Late on Sunday night, a federal judge in the Washington DC area district moved to block Trump’s mail-in ballot rule from being implemented.
Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump, is the second federal judge to block the ruling after Boston area Judge Indira Talwani prohibited the USPS from enforcing the Trump administration ruling. Talwani’s order is under appeal already and is being considered by SCOTUS.
“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that, absent an injunction, there is an increased risk that a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted in the upcoming elections,” Nichols wrote in issuing the preliminary injunction. “The public has a strong interest in ensuring that doesn’t happen.”
Nichols wrote that the new rule could make it harder for some people to vote by mail and that the new regulation exceeded the Postal Service’s authority. “No statute grants the Postal Service the power to issue key parts of the rule,” Nichols wrote.
Earlier in May, Nichols refused to block the USPS rules by saying that the lawsuit seeking to block the implementation was brought too soon.
After the Obama-appointed Boston judge ruled to block the USPS rules, the Trump administration ordered the USPS to ignore the order and move ahead with the rules. Because Trump ordered the USPS to not follow the ruling, the plaintiffs in Boston and Washington, D.C., refiled their lawsuits.