Miami
US Supreme Court keeps USPS mail-ballot requirements on hold before the 2026 midterms
The court turned down an emergency request from Donald Trump’s administration to enforce new Postal Service rules on mailed ballots. A nationwide lower-court injunction remains in place while the case moves forward.
The US Supreme Court on Monday denied an emergency request from Donald Trump‘s administration to enforce new US Postal Service restrictions on mail ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
That leaves in place a nationwide block issued by a lower court. As reported by Fox News Politics and also by NPR Politics, the ruling means the USPS cannot enforce the new requirements for the 2026 elections while the litigation continues.
The Postal Service rule would have required federal election mail to be sent in envelopes bearing an election-mail logo, compatible with high-speed scanning equipment and carrying a barcode unique to each voter. It also would have required state and local election officials to submit envelope designs to the Postal Service for review and to upload basic voter information to an online USPS portal.
Under the rule, mailings that did not meet those standards would not be accepted and instead would be returned to election officials for correction and resubmission, according to Fox News Politics.
In a brief order, the Supreme Court said the government was unlikely to prevail on the merits for purposes of emergency relief and had not shown that the legal and practical factors justified putting the lower-court injunction on hold.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with the outcome but signaled that the USPS may ultimately have statutory authority to adopt such requirements. Still, he said enforcing them during the 2026 election cycle would be arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have enough time to implement them reasonably.
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Clarence Thomas, argued that some plaintiffs lacked standing and that the government had made the necessary showing for a stay, Fox News Politics reported.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office helped lead the legal challenge, welcomed the decision as a win for voters, according to Fox News Politics.
Earlier this year, Trump directed the Postal Service to develop new standards for handling election mail. The agency finalized the requirements in late August and then, together with the administration, asked the Supreme Court to step in after a federal judge converted a temporary restraining order into a nationwide preliminary injunction.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
