Judge Says USPS Defied Mail-Ballot Injunction

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the U.S. Postal Service violated her nationwide injunction when it finalized President Trump's mail-ballot rule — but she declined to do anything about it beyond saying so.

"Defendants cannot contend that they misunderstood the scope of the court's order," Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in a five-page ruling. "Accordingly, despite the Defendants' protestations that '[t]he United States takes its obligation to comply with court orders very seriously,' the court finds that Defendants violated the preliminary injunction in this case."

She then rejected the extra remedies sought by the plaintiffs, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other voting rights groups, leaving the rule on track for publication Wednesday. She declined to take action "other than identifying the violation," and noted the final rule "may ultimately inure to Plaintiffs' benefit" — because it lets them challenge a completed regulation instead of a hypothetical one.

That order did not touch the League of Women Voters case. The administration argues it should: in an emergency motion, government lawyers wrote that "the Supreme Court's order leaves no room for any further dispute: this Court lacked jurisdiction to issue the preliminary-injunction in this case."