Federal Judge Blocks Trump's USPS Mail-In Ballot Rule for Third Time as Voting Begins

US District Judge Indira Talwani (District of Massachusetts) issued a preliminary injunction Friday, September 4, 2026, blocking a new Postal Service rule dictating how states and voters may mail general-election ballots, ruling it likely unlawful and unconstitutional as an intrusion on states' power to regulate their own elections. Talwani found the administration's compressed implementation timeline — coming as mail-in ballots were already going out for the midterms — made 'voter disenfranchisement practically inevitable.' It was the third time a federal court has blocked the Trump administration's effort to restrict mail voting through the Postal Service; the administration asked the Supreme Court over the weekend to allow the rule to take effect while the appeal proceeds.