Appeals court allows USPS to move forward with Trump's anti-mail voting order, for now

[hookaleft]

A federal appeals court Friday temporarily revived the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to move forward with a Trump-backed rule that could severely restrict mail voting ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted USPS’ request to pause an order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan that blocked the agency from implementing standards and procedures in its proposed mail ballot rule while the case continues.

The rule stems from President Donald Trump’s March executive order attacking mail-in voting.

Under the proposal, states would have to send USPS information about voters who requested mail-in or absentee ballots, along with barcode information tied to those ballots. USPS would then use those lists to determine whether to transmit ballot mail.

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https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/appeals-court-allows-usps-to-move-forward-with-trumps-anti-mail-voting-order/

These fuckers are not going to stop!!

Looks I will be going to the polls in person in California. A vote by mail state.

[dlk]

1. America's voting system is a disaster

It almost makes one believe we really don’t believe in democracy.

[underpants]

2. So the Postal Service gets to decide who votes?

They rigging this every imaginable way.

[AZJonnie]

9. More accurately, Trump gets to decide who can receive a mail-in ballot

He can't choose who votes, only who he's going to make it more difficult for. With this order, anyway.

Absolutely UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE that ANY court would entertain this idea for one fucking second, let along go along with it.

[LisaL]

11. Somehow they found a court willing to entertain this idea.

NT

[Lovie777]

3. Colorado is completely mail in ballots?.....................

[LisaL]

6. I guess they better figure out what to do.

NT

[ananda]

4. I have been voting in person for a few years now.

It's Texas, and I want to see the paper copy of my vote
go in the machine.

[Lonestarblue]

35. You need to check that paper copy carefully.

In 2018, some voters who checked their paper printouts after making their choices found that their votes had been changed to Cruz, which they documented with photos. And now that a Republican friend of Trump owns the Dominion Voting Systems company, who knows whether he can and will have Dominion machines programmed to change votes as they appear on the paper ballots fed into machines for tabulation. We should not trust anything where Republicans have any influence or control over voting.

[ananda]

36. I do.

It's Texas.

[GoodRaisin]

5. The postal service will not be handling my ballot this year.

[Lovie777]

7. Maybe states can avoid mail in ballots and start using ...................

ballots that can be turned in at special election offices with proper voting codes. Eff the post office.

[LisaL]

8. How are they going to get these ballots without the post office?

If you have to pick up your ballots in person, and deliver them in person, why in the world would you want to do it instead of just voting in person?

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. The states may have to hire third party couriers or legislate some kind of state run courier service. Nt

[LisaL]

21. Third party couriers don't have the infrastructure to do this.

They don't have mailboxes, and so on.

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. Most states have drop boxes

And fleets of vehicles that could transport ballots to the tabulating centers.

The states could place drop boxes on the public sidewalks in front of every post office, maybe paint them bright orange or yellow.

It will be most difficult in rural communities, which will impact republican voters disproportionately.

It would be a Herculean task that would have to be initiated in the next few weeks, but there has got to be a plan B, don’t you think?

I would think Newsom, Pritzker, Hochul, Ferguson, Walz, Hobbs, etc. would already have staffers brainstorming about this.

[LisaL]

27. Again, how are the people going to get ballots to begin with?

USPS delivers the ballots to the voters first.
Even if there are drop boxes, if USPS isn't delivering the ballots, what is going to be dropped in those boxes?

[Fiendish Thingy]

31. That's what I mean by creating a plan B

The ballots are addressed by the state, all they need is a way to get them into the hands of voters.

Maybe distribute them at polling places? Schools?

SCOTUS already recently ruled against Trump on another mail in ballot case, so I’m hopeful for a positive outcome…

[LisaL]

32. States that vote by mail don't even have polling places.

Ballots are also different based on where the person lives (since many elections are local and depend on the person's address).
So none of this is going to work.

[spanone]

10. WTF?

[vapor2]

12. WTF can't the courts get on the same effn page?

[Fiendish Thingy]

14. It's part of the normal appeals process

A temporary stay pending appeal is not at all unusual.

[kentuck]

16. Can it be "temporary" until after the next election?

Or is there a time limit on the stay?

[Fiendish Thingy]

18. Courts tend to handle time sensitive election cases quicker than others

But SCOTUS doesn’t resume formally until October, although they have made emergency rulings during their summer recess.

[kentuck]

19. I don't think anyone wants to put too much faith in this Court...

They have been known to make some truly dumbass decisions.

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. They have, but have also ruled against Trump on a number of occasions

Including recently on birthright citizenship and the counting of mail in ballots.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/30/us-supreme-court-hands-trump-3-1-defeat-in-key-rulings-what-we-know

Just as with the counting of mail in ballots case, I believe the EO on mail in ballots contravenes both state and federal laws on who has the authority to determine whether someone may receive a mail in ballot, so if it gets a hearing in the next few weeks, hopefully there will be a final ruling by October.

[AZJonnie]

22. Okay, well, the article has some fairly scary-sounding verbiage in any case

The panel found that USPS had made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on two arguments: that the NAACP’s challenge to the proposed rule is not yet ripe for review, meaning the court may have acted too early, and that the rule likely would not violate the settlement even if finalized.

The appeals court also credited USPS’ argument that leaving Sullivan’s injunction in place would prevent the agency from issuing and implementing a final rule before the November 2026 general election

I'm no lawyer as I'm sure you are, so if I may inquire with an expert: Is it maybe a mistake to pin all hopes on a victorious 2020 lawsuit by the NAACP regarding a matter that seems fairly distinct from this one in its nature?

Or can that ruling be expected to hold up as cause to block this one?

[Fiendish Thingy]

29. I'm no lawyer, I just read a lot.

Again, remember this not even a ruling for USPS’s argument to maintain the ruling, it is just a ruling from a higher court that found the USPS argument persuasive enough to grant a stay pending appeal.

SCOTUS did rule against Trump recently on the question of whether mail in ballots could be counted if received after election day, and it quoted state law in its ruling- that is the most hopeful sign I can find that this case will also be resolved that way.

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Key word: temporarily

This is SOP for an appeals process, and shouldn’t surprise anyone who follows the courts.

The critical factor is the timing, and when it will reach SCOTUS.

Late September/early October seems the likely cutoff for a ruling to keep this from interfering with the midterms.

[LisaL]

25. October?

Let's say court rules USPS is allowed to do this. Then the states who vote by mail are screwed.

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. Which is why they must come up with a plan B NOW. Nt

[AZJonnie]

17. How the fuck is the USPS going to do this part: "use those lists to determine whether to transmit ballots"?

The USPS can't just figure this out on their own.

I strongly suspect that the way this will work is that the USPS will transmit the state's lists to the fcuking Trump administration, who will then run them through Grok (or similar), who will then use EVERYTHING it can find about every person, deduce who is going to vote for the GOP, and then transmit a list of those persons back to the USPS saying "okay, these are the people allowed to receive mail-in ballots, everyone else, don't send".

At least, nothing that I can find anywhere positively describes any mechanism by which what I describe above would be prevented from happening. In which case of course we're looking at a full-blown PRESIDENTIAL takeover (not federal, but presidential) of our STATE election processes (if it succeeds, which it better fucking NOT), in direct conflict with the US Constitution.

[kacekwl]

20. How does this make sense?

Some courts are seriously corrupt or incompetent.

[LisaL]

23. It makes no sense.

USPS shouldn't be deciding who gets to vote.
And yet here we are.

[Lifeafter70]

28. How does tha affect states that only vote by mail.

Is it so the federal government can get voter information that they have been denied?

[LisaL]

33. Obviously the states that only vote by mail are going to have huge problems.

Right now I would not trust post office one bit, because how in the world it is post office's job to decide who gets to vote? And yet somehow they think it's their job.

[Lifeafter70]

34. I agree they are a federal agency and elections are state controlled

Not understanding how the court allowed this.