Talwani's 49-Page Injunction Blocks USPS Mail-Ballot Rule: Disenfranchisement 'Practically Inevitable' (2026-09-04)

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a 49-page preliminary injunction blocking the USPS Final Rule for the November 3 midterms, writing that the rule is "unauthorized by the Elections Clause," "clashes with Congress's statutory scheme, and is unconstitutional where it intrudes not only on Congress's Elections Clause powers but also that power left to the States." She found the rushed compliance timeline made voter disenfranchisement "practically inevitable" — states faced an impossible task of redesigning millions of ballot envelopes, retooling election management systems and uploading voter data to an untested portal weeks before ballots were already flowing (North Carolina mailed the first ballots the same day). The order denied the administration's stay motions on Purcell doctrine grounds: the injunction merely "preserv[es] the status quo in place prior to the federal agency's altering of requirements" on the threshold of an election — it is the government's last-minute rule change that Purcell forbids. The ruling followed the September 3 hearing at which DOJ could not confirm the portal worked. The administration immediately appealed, asking the Supreme Court to lift the order — a request the Court denied 7-2 on September 14, keeping the block in place through the election.