WASHINGTON, D.C.—A federal appeals court in D.C. on Friday, July 17, cleared the way for the U.S. Postal Service to move forward with a proposed rule requiring states to submit voter lists and use serialized barcodes on mail ballots for federal elections, at least temporarily lifting a lower court block tied to a 2021 NAACP settlement.
In a per curiam order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the Postal Service’s request to stay a district court injunction issued earlier this month in a case brought by the NAACP. The panel found the challenge likely premature because the rule remains in proposed form and unlikely to violate the 2021 agreement, which required USPS to prioritize timely delivery of election mail through 2028.
The ruling allows USPS to advance the rulemaking process while litigation continues as the EO is no longer blocked nationally because of Friday’s ruling. However, the ruling is still block in till blocked in 24 jurisdictions by June’s Judge Talwani’s ruling in California et al. v. Trump where she decaled it unconstitutional.
The proposed rule stems from Executive Order 14399Â issued by President Donald J Trump directing federal agencies to create verified citizen lists and directing the Postal Service to refuse delivery of mail ballots unless states provide approved voter lists and use specific envelope designs. The Postal Service published the proposed rule in early June.
A separate challenge against the executive order in Massachusetts produced a broader ruling on constitutional ground. On June 25, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a 37-page order declaring key provisions of the executive order unconstitutional. She found that President Trump and USPS lacked authority to regulate state election procedures in this manner and enjoined implementation of the relevant sections against 23 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro — and the District of Columbia.
For Trump’s mail-in ballot rule to fully take effect nationwide, USPS would likely need to obtain an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission. USPS has not yet filed a formal request for a PRC advisory opinion on this specific rule. The commission generally has up to 90 days to issue such an opinion after a formal request.
Because of the tight timeline before the November 2026 election, going through the full PRC process now would make it extremely difficult for USPS to finalize and implement the rule in time for this election cycle in a fully compliant way.
Even with commission’s approval, the Talwani injunction would continue to block enforcement in the 24 covered jurisdictions that includes Washington state, unless it is lifted or overturned on appeal.
The five-commissioner U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission has one vacancy. Its commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for staggered six-year terms. It is currently comprised of two Republicans, one Independent, and one Democrat.
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Author: Mario Lotmore
