A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out an executive order on mail-in ballots nationwide. The ruling comes after President Donald Trump ordered the postal service to transmit ballots for states only if those states first provided a list of mail-in voters, among other requirements.
US District Judge Emmet Sullivan argued that the order would violate the settlement agreement in an earlier 2020 lawsuit between the postal service and the NAACP. The agreement allowed the courts to oversee the postal service's actions relating to the "monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail."
The judge's order blocks the postal service from implementing the order nationwide, citing a specific paragraph in the agreement that prohibits the postal service from posting documents reflecting "practices and policies for prioritizing the monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail." The ruling means that states will not have to provide a list of mail-in voters for the postal service to send out ballots.
The ruling extends nationwide, after nearly 25 states challenged Trump's order earlier this year and were successful in blocking the postal service from carrying out the order in their states. The decision also comes just a week after an Obama-appointed judge blocked Trump's effort to curb noncitizens from registering to vote or voting in federal elections.
President Trump has expressed commitment to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and the White House has stated that they are confident in the implementation of the executive order. However, the federal judge's ruling has dealt a significant blow to Trump's efforts to change the way mail-in ballots are handled in the US.
