President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Friday that states cannot “feasibly” carry out the Trump administration’s requested changes to mail-in voting systems before the upcoming midterm elections.
In her latest ruling in a long-running set of cases challenging federal efforts to reshape vote-by-mail procedures, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ended a temporary restraining order and replaced it with a preliminary injunction.
The Trump administration quickly responded by filing a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
In practical terms, however, the immediate impact of both moves is expected to be narrow. Rather than dramatically altering the legal fight, Friday night’s developments appear likely to formalize and streamline a process already underway.
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The court also found the final rule violates the originating statute for the USPS itself — a novel development in the case.
“[T]he Final Rule is inconsistent with the USPS’s governing statute, specifically Congress’s scheme to define categories of ‘nonmailable’ material,” Talwani explains. “As a starting point, the USPS’s ‘right to exclude letters, or to refuse to permit their delivery to persons addressed, must depend upon some law of Congress, and if no such law exists, then [the USPS] cannot exclude or refuse to deliver them.'”
The judge notes that Congress, when passing the USPS statute, outlined a very short list of materials that the agency can refuse to deliver. And ballot mail is simply not on that list.
“Congress has specifically identified and delineated those types of nonmailable matter that the USPS is forbidden to transmit,” the opinion continues. “Nowhere in the nonmailability provisions has Congress evidenced any intent to permit the USPS to establish new nonmailable categories by rulemaking. Congress has not delegated this authority under its Postal Clause power.”
The post Judge says Trump’s federal takeover of mail-in voting is unconstitutional and states cannot ‘feasibly’ comply with proposed rule in time for upcoming midterm elections first appeared on Law & Crime.