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U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued a temporary restraining order Thursday preventing the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order that would restrict mail voting access. The 14-day freeze marks the second judicial halt of the directive, coming roughly one week before states are scheduled to begin distributing mail ballots for the midterm elections. Legal experts anticipate the case will quickly return to the Supreme Court, which just days earlier had partially overturned one of Talwani’s previous blocks on the order.
In her written decision, Talwani cited the logistical impossibility of compliance, noting that states lack adequate time and resources to redesign ballots, obtain regulatory approval, arrange printing, update election systems, train poll workers, and transfer voter information to a Postal Service portal before Election Day. The ruling followed a motion filed by Democrats and voting rights advocates after they refiled their legal challenges to conform with the Supreme Court’s recent decision.
The Trump administration recently issued formal regulations requiring states to submit voter lists to the U.S. Postal Service and adhere to specific envelope formatting standards for mail ballot delivery. Election officials and legal opponents argue the mandate violates constitutional protections that reserve electoral rulemaking authority to states and Congress, not the executive branch. Approximately one-third of American voters cast ballots by mail, creating significant disruption if the directive takes effect.
Trump has consistently attacked mail voting as a mechanism for electoral fraud, despite personally voting by mail and despite a 2025 Brookings Institution report documenting mail voting fraud at a rate of only four cases per 10 million ballots cast. The president issued this mail voting order in March, marking his second election-related executive order since returning to office. The legal battle reflects a continuing conflict between Trump administration policies and federal courts over voting access in advance of consequential midterm elections.
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