NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
A federal judge blocked the US Postal Service from ordering mail-in ballots on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump had ordered mailers to deliver ballots to states only if those states first provided mail-in voter lists, among other requirements. US District Judge Emmet Sullivan's ruling prevents the Postal Service from implementing the order nationwide.
Sullivan argued that the order would violate a settlement agreement in an earlier 2020 lawsuit between the postal service and the NAACP. That agreement allowed the courts to oversee the postal service's actions related to the “monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail.”
People complete their votes (Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images) (REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Proposed Rule violates section 2 of the Convention because the Postal Service cannot submit documents showing 'procedures and policies to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail' if its policies provide that it will not accept 'non-compliant mail' and therefore will not deliver mail-in or absentee ballots to voters, and if it will not name any voters or voter verification lists,'” Sullivan wrote in his opinion.
Sullivan's order comes after an earlier case saw nearly 25 states challenge Trump's executive order earlier this year. Those states succeeded in blocking the Postal Service from enforcing the order in their states, but Sullivan's decision extends nationwide.
Assistant City Clerk James Blatchford prepares absentee and early voting ballots at Haverhill City Hall to be sent to the polling stations on Election Day, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Haverhill, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
The ruling also comes a week after an Obama-appointed judge blocked Trump's efforts to prevent noncitizens from registering to vote or voting in federal elections.
OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP'S ELECTION ORDER AS SAVE AMERICA ACT FIGHT INTENSIFIES
The case in that case centered on Trump's March executive order, Executive Order (EO) 14248, which directed the creation of federal voter registration lists and imposed new limits on mail-in voting eligibility as part of the administration's broader effort to combat voter fraud.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Friday, September 19, 2025. (Photos by Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg/Getty)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
“President Trump is committed to ensuring that the American people have full confidence in the administration of our elections. The President's executive order legally protects our elections, and we are confident that we will ultimately succeed in implementing it,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital last week.
Fox News' Ashley DiMella contributed to this report.
