Federal judge blocks Trump order restricting mail ballots ahead of midterms

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston blocked Donald Trump’s March order restricting mail ballots on Thursday, ruling that the administration could not use executive power to reshape how states run the 2026 midterm election cycle. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted summary judgment to a coalition of nearly two dozen states and said the order’s provisions were “legally void” because they violated the separation of powers.

Talwani’s ruling stripped out two central pieces of the president’s directive: the plan to create a federal list of eligible voters and the instruction that the U.S. Postal Service restrict delivery of mail ballots. The decision applies to the November 3, 2026 general election cycle, with primaries already moving through states across the spring and summer.

The lawsuit put the White House on the losing side of a familiar constitutional fight over election administration. The states argued that Congress and the states, not the president, set voting rules, and Talwani agreed. The White House will appeal.

The ruling came one day after another Boston judge permanently barred enforcement of a separate Trump executive order that would have required proof of citizenship to vote. Together, the two decisions left major parts of the administration’s effort to tighten voting rules in court and out of reach before the midterms.

The mail-ballot fight matters most in states where voting by post is a dominant method. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said nearly 80% of ballots in her state are cast by mail and that the order would hit military families, rural voters and Native Americans on tribal lands. “States run their elections, not the President,” Mayes said.

At a Senate hearing, Postal Service chief executive Postmaster General David Steiner supported the administration’s effort as a way to ensure ballots reached the right voters, but deferred to the courts on the agency’s authority. The order followed a voting overhaul bill Trump backed that stalled in Congress.