Judge Indira Talwani (D. Mass.) issued a preliminary injunction halting the Postal Service from “implementing, giving effect to, or enforcing” a key portion of President Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting in the upcoming elections. The ruling means that the Postal Service can’t move forward with its regulations that specify the design of mail-in ballots and restrict mail-in voting to voters on a USPS-approved list.
We previously covered the issue here. Recall that circuits split on standing and ripeness, and the Administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene. (The Court hasn’t yet ruled.)
The Massachusetts district court previously ruled (in denying a portion of the Administration’s motion to dismiss) that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that the EO violated the Constitution. Its analysis in the PI ruling was curt and direct:
The court has already answered and will again resolve the question clearly and affirmatively. The executive branch has no authority to regulate elections. U.S. Const., art. I, sec. 4, cl. 1; id., art. II.
The ruling deals a sharp blow to the Administration and its efforts to regulate mail-in voting. Even if the Supreme Court intervenes and rules for the Administration in its pending application, the Administration will now have to reckon with this ruling–most likely by seeking a separate stay. As the court says, though: the Administration’s merits arguments are (extraordinarily) weak, and the other PI factors lean (strongly) in the plaintiffs’ favor.
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