Score one for the people…at least for now.
A federal judge on Friday extended her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting during the midterms, putting another major obstacle in the way of the administration as the first states begin sending out mail ballots.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani (Obama judge…gasp!) granted a preliminary injunction, replacing a temporary order she had granted blocking the Postal Service’s plan.
The Trump administration has already asked the Supreme Court to lift Talwani’s temporary order, and will likely appeal her latest order as well.
The administration is running out of time to make big changes in voting procedures. North Carolina began sending out its first mail ballots Friday and more states will swiftly follow.
In her ruling, the judge sided with a coalition of pro-voting groups led by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and Democratic attorneys general from 24 states and the District of Columbia.
Talwani’s decision was largely expected. She’s said from the start that USPS’s new requirements and Trump’s order are unconstitutional and violate federal law. Still, coming just 60 days before the midterms, her decision is crucial.
For now, it protects millions of Americans’ ability to vote by mail by preventing USPS from refusing to deliver mail ballots in states or localities that don’t comply with the agency’s expansive new restrictions.