By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
A federal judge on Wednesday lifted to President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting, even as Democratic state officials filed a new court challenge with the midterm elections fast approaching.
The fresh round of legal wrangling comes just two days after the Supreme Court handed down a procedural ruling in Trump’s favor, and could mean the issue lands before the high court again before the pivotal contests for control of Congress. The first mailed ballots are set to be sent out next week.
The new lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Postal Service by about two dozen Democratically controlled states — including Colorado — marked a new phase in the high-stakes litigation after the Supreme Court in a separate case, but did not say Trump’s order was legal.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston agreed Wednesday to lift an order prohibiting the Postal Service from carrying out Trump’s order for November’s elections. She wrote that she was “compelled” to do so after the Supreme Courtap conservative majority ruled in the other case involving the states that an injunction was premature.
Talwani nevertheless said the executive order could unleash “chaos” and referred to it as “likely unconstitutional.”
The Republican administration can now move forward and implement a Postal Service rule published late Friday. It would require states to follow a uniform envelope style for mail ballots and to give the Postal Service a list of voters eligible to receive them.
Election officials warn it will be impossible to implement the rule before the first wave of mail ballots are sent out next week.
“Across the country, states are already deep into preparations for the 2026 elections. Now, at the last moment, the federal government is attempting to meddle in those preparations and potentially threaten countless Americans’ right to vote,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of 25 Democratic attorneys general filing the new lawsuit, said in a statement. “USPS has no authority to decide who can and cannot vote by mail.”
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Wednesday morning called the Supreme Court's ruling "irresponsible" and said it invites "mischief." He criticized the rules as another attempt by Trump to undermine elections and as the federal government inserting itself into something the Constitution delegates to the states.
"There is nothing lawful or appropriate about the presidentap doing," Weiser said. "He’s overstepping his authority, plain and simple. The Supreme Court didn’t need to get into the middle of this preliminary ruling, and certainly didn’t need to do anything to suggest that the president might be on solid ground. He’s not. We’re going to keep fighting it.”
This week, Colorado Secretary of State said the state's voters could still expect to receive their ballots in the mail in early October.
The Trump administration plan faces a third lawsuit originally filed in May in the nation’s capital, though courts there have so far declined to block it. All previous challenges were filed before the administration published its mail ballot rule Friday night.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis on Wednesday said the Postal Service’s proposals were “commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots” and that the administration would continue to work to implement them to boost “the safety and security of our elections.”
The Postal Service said it would not comment because of the pending lawsuit.
National Democrats on Tuesday cited the rule in asking the federal judge in the Washington case to block Trump’s order after last spring, saying the administration at the time had not taken concrete action.
In Boston, Talwani also found that the administration had violated a separate injunction she had placed on the Postal Service in drafting the new rule, although she did not take any action against the government. The League of Women Voters originally filed that lawsuit, and on Wednesday the group also asked for a new court order blocking the mail voting plan.
Trump has long targeted mail voting, which and is disproportionately used by Democrats as a result of Trump’s condemnations. Since returning to power, Trump has tried to claim authority over election rules, saying he thinks Republicans should “take over” vote counting in Democratic areas.
He issued just months after retaking office, attempting to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote, among other changes. He has also been pushing a sweeping election bill that has stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Democrats and even some within his own party.
Denver Post staff writer Nick Coltrain contributed to this story.
