A federal judge has stopped the U.S. Postal Service from moving forward with its plan to implement President Donald Trump’s mail ballot executive order. The court found that the Postal Service’s proposal violated a settlement agreement connected to a 2020 lawsuit against the agency.
The ruling blocks the directives nationwide and adds another major legal setback to Trump’s attempt to reshape how mail-in ballots are handled in U.S. elections.
Judge Blocks USPS Plan Nationwide
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, based in Washington, D.C., issued the ruling against the Postal Service’s proposed implementation of Trump’s executive order.
Trump had instructed USPS to send mail ballots only for states that provided the agency with lists of mail-in voters and met other conditions tied to their mail voting systems.
A separate judge in Boston had already blocked the Postal Service from enforcing the order in about two dozen states that challenged it in court. Sullivan’s latest decision goes further by stopping the directives across the entire country.
Trump’s Order Could Expand Federal Role in Elections
If Trump’s March 2026 executive order were allowed to stand, it could give the federal government an unusually large role in election administration.
Critics argue that the order could also place more voter data in the hands of Trump officials who are searching for alleged election fraud.
The proposal raised concerns because elections are largely managed by states, while the executive order would have given federal agencies new influence over mail ballot processing.
Ruling Connected to 2020 NAACP Lawsuit
Sullivan’s decision comes from a lawsuit originally filed by the NAACP against the Postal Service in 2020.
That lawsuit challenged USPS policy changes that slowed mail delivery shortly before the pandemic-era election. A 2021 settlement required the agency to publish guidance explaining how it would prioritize the monitoring and timely delivery of election mail.
The settlement also gave the court authority to oversee USPS actions related to election mail delivery.
Court Says Proposed Rule Violated Settlement
In his Wednesday opinion, Sullivan said the Postal Service’s proposed rules for carrying out Trump’s executive order would prevent some ballots from being delivered.
According to the ruling, ballots would not be sent to voters if they failed to meet the executive order’s requirements. The Postal Service also would not mail ballots to voters in a state that refused or failed to certify a required voter list.
Sullivan said this violated the settlement agreement because USPS cannot claim to prioritize timely election mail delivery while also adopting policies that reject “noncompliant” mailings and block ballots from reaching some voters.
Barcode Requirement Raises Cost Concerns
Trump’s order also called for mail ballot envelopes to include individualized barcodes for automated tracking.
Although election officials often view barcode tracking as a strong administrative practice, many local jurisdictions could struggle to implement the requirement because of the cost involved.
The rule could place financial and logistical pressure on election offices that do not already have systems in place for that level of tracking.
DHS Voter List Plan Sparks Purge Fears
The executive order also directed the Department of Homeland Security to use federal databases to create lists of voting-age citizens in each state.
That part of the order increased fears that the data could be used for aggressive voter purges.
Voting rights advocates have warned that inaccurate or overly broad voter list removals could wrongly affect eligible voters.
NAACP Calls Ruling a Major Defeat for Trump
NAACP President Derrick Johnson praised the decision, calling it another major blow to Trump’s effort to interfere with the election.
Johnson said the ruling showed that the president was failing while the people were winning.
Why the Decision Matters
The ruling is significant because it prevents USPS from applying election mail restrictions that could have affected voters across the country.
Mail ballots are a key part of voting access for many Americans, including older voters, disabled voters, military voters, rural residents, and people who cannot easily reach polling places.
By blocking the order nationwide, the court preserved the Postal Service’s responsibility to handle election mail without applying the disputed new restrictions.
Judge Emmet Sullivan’s nationwide ruling blocks the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing President Trump’s mail ballot executive order, finding that the agency’s proposed plan violated a settlement from a 2020 NAACP lawsuit. The order would have required states to provide mail-in voter lists and meet additional requirements before USPS delivered ballots.
It also included barcode tracking rules and a federal voter list plan involving the Department of Homeland Security. With the court’s decision, the Postal Service cannot move ahead with policies that could prevent mail-in or absentee ballots from reaching some voters.