BOSTON—In a legal whirlwind that would make the roadrunner blush and a day after issuing a scathing opinion against USPS for implementing its new final rule, “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections,” impacting federal elections, Judge Indira Talwani, U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, vacated her August 11 nationwide preliminary injunction in League of Women Voters of Massachusetts et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al.—removing the last block against President Donald J Trump’s Executive Order 14399 on “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections” that reforms vote-by-mail nationwide.
State election officials across the country and in U.S. territories must now use a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal and submit, for each mail ballot they send, the voter’s name and address plus unique barcodes for the outbound and return envelopes. They also have to use USPS-approved envelope designs to demote election mail with automation-compatible formatting and Intelligent Mail barcodes.
If a state does not submit the list, or the envelope does not match the new design/barcode rules, USPS can now refuse to mail the ballot— Military and overseas (UOCAVA) ballots are exempt.
DHS will now be working with SSA and other federal agencies to compile and send each state a “State Citizenship List” of people the federal government considers confirmed adult citizens living in that state. If your name isn’t on the list and you receive a ballot, DOJ will have the authority to prioritize a federal investigation against state and local election officials, and if applicable pursue prosecutions.
Judge Talwani granted the Trump administration’s August 24th motion in the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al. case to reconsider after the Supreme Court’s ruling in the related states’ case (Trump v. California), concluding the original challenge was not ripe without an amended complaint now that USPS has issued a final rule.
The plaintiffs in the League of Women Voters v Trump case have filed a supplemental complaint and new emergency motions for a TRO and preliminary injunction aimed at the final USPS rule. Judge Talwani set a hearing for 9 a.m., September 3. If the plaintiffs can prove that the claims are now ripe (sufficient legal grounds) because a final rule exists and that they have standing from concrete harm to their members, they are likely to win on the merits of the rule itself.
In the separate Trump v. California, SCOTUS stayed the original injunction and said the states lacked standing/ripeness to challenge the executive order itself. The Court treated the EO as an internal directive to agencies, not a final action that had yet injured the states. It then pointed to the fix: if USPS issued a final rule that actually harmed the states, “they may challenge that rule.” This case is no longer the main battlefield at the district court.
So, on August 26 Washington state AG Nick Brown along with California AG Rob Bonta, Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell, and Nevada AG Aaron Ford and 21 other states filed suit targeting the final USPS rule from President Trump’s March 2026 executive order 14399. The defendants in this case are USPS and related postal officials, and no longer President Trump as the lead defendant.
This is the new live emergency motion for a TRO, preliminary injunction, and Administrative Procedure Act stay case where the plaintiff states, including Washington, are arguing the now-finalized rule is unconstitutional, exceeds USPS’s statutory authority, violates the Privacy Act and Voting Rights Act, and imposes unworkable last-minute requirements on states. This is the follow-on case SCOTUS indicated they could bring once there was actual final agency action to challenge.
This case was filed in the same Massachusetts federal court as the two previous cases — State of California et al. v. Trump and League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump — where Judge Indira Talwani presides. Talwani put it on the same September 3 hearing calendar as the League case.
So, September 3 is the next legal showdown between the Trump administration and plaintiffs including Washington state!
Author: Mario Lotmore
