Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Voting Order in 23 States Before Nov. 3 Midterms
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Jul 26
Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Voting Order in 23 States Before Nov. 3 Midterms
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jul 26
Summary
A federal appeals court left in place a lower-court injunction barring enforcement of President Trump's voter-list and mail-ballot order in 23 states and Washington, D.C. for the Nov. 3 elections.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court rejected the administration's push to revive the rules, which would require a federal citizenship-based voter list and limit mailed ballots to people on it.
Democratic-led states argued the order was unconstitutional because election rules are set by states and Congress, and warned the changes could disrupt voting administration.
Judge Indira Talwani first blocked the March order in June only in the suing states, making the appellate ruling a fresh setback for Trump's election-policy push ahead of the midterms.
Will the Supreme Court intervene to redefine the boundary between state election laws and federal postal authority?
How will the clash over federal databases and postal rules reshape the way your ballot is delivered this November?
The 2026 Mail-In Voting Showdown: How Trump’s Executive Order Sparked a Constitutional Crisis Before the Midterms
Overview
In 2026, President Trump’s executive order to overhaul mail-in voting triggered a wave of legal and logistical chaos. The order directed federal agencies to create a centralized voter list and forced the USPS to block ballots not on preapproved lists, leading to a controversial USPS rule that imposed costly, complex requirements on local election offices and risked disenfranchising eligible voters. Courts quickly split: while a D.C. appeals court lifted a nationwide freeze, a Massachusetts judge blocked the order in 24 jurisdictions, citing constitutional limits on presidential power. The Supreme Court’s later ruling in Watson v. RNC further undermined the order, reinforcing that states—not the president—control mail-in ballot rules.