A federal appeals court ruled 2-1 on July 25 to uphold a lower court injunction blocking important provisions of President Donald Trump's executive order on mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a US District Judge that the president lacked authority to impose new voting rules unilaterally on states. The injunction affects 23 states and the District of Columbia where key parts of the order were blocked [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Trump's March 2026 executive order directs federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to compile a list of eligible voters. The US Postal Service would then be required to send mail ballots only to voters on that list. The order also requires the Postal Service to use secure, trackable envelope delivery and authorizes withholding federal funds from states that do not comply [1, 2, 3, 7, 5, 8, 6].
Boston-based US District Judge Indira Talwani issued the injunction on June 25, ruling the president lacked authority to impose the new mail-in voting restrictions in 23 states and DC. The judge said the measures encroached on election administration powers reserved for states and Congress [1, 2, 3, 7, 5, 6].
The Trump administration argued lawsuits against the order were premature because federal agencies had not finalized policies to implement the directives. Solicitor-General John Sauer called the injunction "extraordinary" and said the court wrongly blocked an order meant to promote election integrity. Sauer added the injunction was “especially indefensible” because agencies were still deciding how to implement the order [1, 3, 9, 5, 10, 6].
The appeals court rejected the administration’s request to pause the injunction, citing the rapidly approaching September and November 2026 election deadlines. The judges wrote that states have "no practical choice but to respond to the order now" as they must coordinate with federal officials and prepare the public for new voting procedures [1, 4, 6].
Following the ruling, the Justice Department filed an emergency application with the US Supreme Court on July 27. The department asked the Supreme Court to allow implementation of the executive order while the legal challenges continue [2, 3, 7, 9, 5, 8].
The original lawsuits were brought by 23 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia, arguing Trump’s order was unconstitutional and infringed on state and congressional authority over elections. Additional lawsuits remain pending, including one filed by the Democratic National Committee [1, 2, 3, 7, 5, 8, 6].
The US Supreme Court set a deadline on August 3 for responses to the Justice Department’s emergency application. The midterm election is scheduled for November 3, 2026 [3].
