Press Statement  AG Campbell Issues Statement After U.S. Supreme Court Leaves Block On Postal Service's Unlawful Mail Voting Rule In Effect

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today issued the following statement after the Supreme Court of the United States ordered that a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts may remain in effect, blocking a new rule by the United States Postal Service (USPS) that would have imposed burdensome requirements on vote-by-mail systems ahead of the November 3 elections while the coalition’s lawsuit challenging the rule proceeds.  

In its order, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration is unlikely to succeed in showing that the USPS rule was lawful, and that factors of equity and fairness weigh against allowing the rule to go into effect. 

“Today’s order from our nation’s highest court makes clear that states cannot be forced to undermine their mail voting systems and risk voter disenfranchisement because of the President’s political agenda,” said AG Campbell. “Mail voting is safe, secure, and reliable, and I will continue to stand up for Massachusetts residents who rely on mail ballots to ensure that they can have their voices heard in the November election.” 

On March 31, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the U.S. Postal Service to adopt new regulations that would prohibit USPS from transmitting mail ballots to voters who are not on a USPS-controlled list.  

On August 21, USPS announced a new rule implementing the President’s demands that require states to register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling the registered voters into state-specific lists. The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes, which states are required to create and get approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-compiled lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that lack USPS’s approval under the rule’s new standards.  

On August 26, AG Campbell co-led a coalition of 25 states in filing a lawsuit to block the unlawful rule, arguing that it inflicts significant harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters, upends longstanding vote-by-mail procedures, and violates the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections.  

On September 4, the District Court granted the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction, finding that compliance with the rule before the November elections was practically impossible and that it created a significant risk of disenfranchisement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied the federal government’s request to block the preliminary injunction and allow the rule to take effect as the case proceeds. 

The Supreme Court’s order rejects USPS’s further attempt to pause the preliminary injunction and blocks USPS from requiring states to obtain the federal government’s approval of new ballot and return-envelope designs, register for a new USPS portal for tracking voter information (which is not yet operational), input information for each state’s mail voters into the portal, and comply with other provisions.  

AG Campbell was joined in filing this lawsuit, which she co-led with the attorneys general of California, Nevada, and Washington, by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.