The Trump administration appealed a temporary two-week block on the U.S. Postal Service’s new rule on mail-in voting on Friday.
The Justice Department notified the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts that the administration is appealing Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s second block on the rule to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. The appeal came less than 24 hours after Talwani issued a 14-day temporary restraining order blocking parts of USPS’s new rule enacting new guardrails on mail-in voting in the name of election security.
Talwani’s Thursday order applied to the sections of the rule that mandate envelope standards for ballots, state registration, and voter enrollment on the USPS’s federal mail-in ballot portal, and block states from sending ballots to voters who do not comply with the new envelope or portal standards.
The Trump administration’s appeal of Talwani’s order is the latest development in a back-and-forth legal saga over USPS’s rule that directs states to turn over their mail-in and absentee voter rolls to the service.
The rule directs states to notify the agency at least 90 days ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections if they intend to submit the data in accordance with the new regulation. The rule also gives guidelines, including specific voter barcodes, for envelopes and mail-in ballots to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting security.
Talwani had initially blocked parts of the order in July, when it was still a proposed rule and not final. The Supreme Court then ruled that her order was premature, handing the Trump administration a temporary win.
JUDGE AGAIN BLOCKS TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER LIMITING MAIL VOTING
However, after USPS issued the final rule last week, 24 states filed a lawsuit over the mail-in voting regulation.
Talwani had ruled on Wednesday that USPS defied her preliminary injunction from Aug. 11 when it issued the final rule, but did not block its publication at the time. On Thursday, Talwani blocked the rule for two weeks, though its status still remains in limbo as her restraining order heads to the 1st Circuit.