The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to enforce new restrictions on mail-in ballots before the November 3 midterm elections, preventing the U.S. Postal Service from applying the disputed rules during the approaching vote.
The proposed system would have required states to submit lists of eligible mail-ballot recipients and use standardized envelopes with unique barcodes. The Postal Service would then have been able to reject ballots that did not meet the new requirements or were associated with voters missing from the required lists.
The rule had already been blocked by federal courts. Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a preliminary injunction on September 4, and Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, D.C., subsequently issued another injunction. The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also declined to suspend Talwani’s order.
The Supreme Court’s brief order did not finally settle the underlying legal dispute. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Clarence Thomas, dissented. Brett Kavanaugh agreed that the restrictions should not take effect for the midterms, while indicating that he could reach a different conclusion if the issue returns to the court later.
Election officials had warned that implementing a new system so close to the election would be difficult. Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin had already begun sending mail ballots, while states such as Washington and Oregon faced particular implementation concerns because their elections are conducted entirely by mail.
The decision leaves states free to continue using their existing mail-voting procedures for the midterms. All 50 states permit some form of voting by mail, and eight conduct elections entirely by mail.
UPDATE — September 16, 2026, 18:50 UTC
President Donald Trump lashed out at the justices after they rejected his federal mail-ballot plan, prompting questions about his next electoral moves.