The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday seeking to immediately reinstate new U.S. Postal Service regulations governing mail-in ballots, after a federal judge temporarily blocked the rules from taking effect. The administration's filing came as U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani was preparing to rule on whether to extend her block on the regulations, which are set to expire Sept. 10.

The new USPS rules, issued following an executive order by President Donald Trump, would require states to submit voter names, home addresses, and unique barcodes for every mail-in ballot distributed. Postal workers would then deliver ballots only to voters whose information appears on the state-provided list. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the Supreme Court filing that the rules impose only 'modest' ballot design and review requirements and that regulation of the U.S. mail — not federal elections — is 'plainly constitutional.' Sauer also warned that delay increases the risk that some states will miss compliance deadlines before ballots are printed for the November 2026 midterm elections.

Judge Talwani sided with a coalition of Democratic-led states and voting rights groups when she issued her temporary restraining order, finding that the USPS rule likely unlawfully usurped states' authority to administer their own elections — power that she said would require congressional approval to override. She noted that most states have already ordered their mail ballots and face an 'impossible' timeline to comply, with the November election roughly two months away. A whistleblower separately told Congress that the requirements could result in large numbers of mail ballots never being sent.

Decades of legal precedent establish that election administration in the United States is primarily a state responsibility. Dozens of Democratic state attorneys general filed suit against the administration after an earlier legal challenge was turned away by the Supreme Court, which at that time ruled the case was premature because the regulations had not yet been finalized. The states challenging the USPS rule have until Tuesday, Sept. 8, to formally respond to the administration's Supreme Court application before the justices decide whether to act.