Judge Carl J. Nichols in Washington blocked the Postal Service from running Trump’s new mail ballot rule. He is the second judge to freeze it. Judge Indira Talwani in Boston already had one on. The Supreme Court is already looking at the Boston fight. This is not a final win. It is another hold so ballots already going out do not die in a new portal.
BREAKING: Judge Nichols, a Trump appointee in Washington, D.C., has *blocked* the administraiton's mail-in ballot plan, saying USPS lacked the authority to issue it. https://t.co/qwkDjiGF93 pic.twitter.com/cCZ1t05a85
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 14, 2026
MORE: Nichols notes that the Trump administration did not provide any evidence that the mail-in ballot rule will prevent fraud and says on the flipside, there's lots of evidene that the new USPS rule would disenfranchise voters. https://t.co/qwkDjiGF93 pic.twitter.com/TMga4zKNqt
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 14, 2026
- Late Sunday U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols in D.C. issued a preliminary injunction. USPS may not implement the Aug. 21 mail ballot rule for now.
- Nichols wrote that without a freeze a lot of otherwise valid absentee and mail ballots risk not getting counted this fall.
- The rule comes from Trump’s March executive order. States would need USPS pre approved ballot envelopes. They would also upload who gets a mail ballot into a federal portal that is still not live. USPS could refuse ballots that miss those steps.
- Mail ballots are already going out in Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin. More states start this week.
- Talwani in Boston blocked the same rule Sept. 4 through the Nov. 3 midterms. She said it looks unconstitutional and that rushed rollout would disenfranchise people. First Circuit kept her order Thursday.
- The administration already asked the Supreme Court to lift Talwani’s block. Nichols just stacked a second court against the same rule.
- Trump’s side says this is security. Judges keep saying the record shows no fraud case that justifies changing the pipes this close to an election.
- This does not kill the rule forever. It stops USPS from enforcing the mandatory parts for this cycle unless a higher court flips it.
Nichols late Sunday injunction. Second block. SCOTUS already on the Boston case.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-mail-ballot-ruling_n_6aa78622e4b054da7a230a1d
Same Nichols order. Portal still inactive. Ballots already out in three states.
https://www.ms.now/news/second-federal-judge-freezes-trump-mail-ballot-order-with-u-s-supreme-court-poised-to-weigh-in
Trump-appointed judge becomes second judge to block USPS mail-ballot rules
https://www.reuters.com/world/trumps-mail-in-voting-restrictions-blocked-by-second-judge-2026-09-14/
Judge Carl Nichols ruled that USPS lacks statutory authority for key parts of the regulation. This is especially damaging to the administration because the second injunction came from a judge appointed by Trump himself.