Both ballot-mail injunctions are gone, and a restraining order has taken their place

5 September 2026

The two injunctions that had blocked the Postal Service’s ballot-mail rule are no longer in force. The Supreme Court stayed the first on 24 August in No. 26A124 (see Supreme Court stays one of the injunctions blocking the mail-in ballot order), and Judge Indira Talwani lifted the second, in League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump, shortly afterwards.¹ The rule was published in the Federal Register on 26 August at 91 FR 54966.² On 27 August Judge Talwani entered a fourteen-day temporary restraining order against parts of it, and on 3 September the administration returned to the Supreme Court as No. 26A297, where no stay had been entered by 5 September.¹³

What replaced the injunctions is narrower and shorter. The restraining order of 27 August bars the administration for fourteen days from requiring states to comply with several provisions of the rule, among them the ballot-envelope design requirements and the submission of voter data to the Portal, and it expires on 14 September.¹ That is a different instrument from the injunctions it follows: it runs for a fixed term rather than pending appeal, and it reaches particular requirements rather than the rule as a whole.¹
The Portal is now live, which the rule had made a condition of the verification process. The system of records governing it published on 1 September 2026 at 91 FR 56368 as USPS 820.225, Federal Ballot Mail, effective on publication — the step the final rule said would occur “on or after August 17, 2026.”⁴² Answering comments, the Service wrote that “[t]he government obtained relief from previous injunctions that had precluded implementation of any final rule governing ballot mail for the November 3, 2026 election.”⁴
The second application is before the same Justice as the first. No. 26A297, United States Postal Service, et al. v. California, et al., was docketed on 3 September from First Circuit Nos. 26-1944, 26-1988 and 26-1989, and submitted to Justice Jackson, who requested a response by 10 a.m. eastern time on 8 September.³ An opposition to the request for an administrative stay was filed the same day the application was docketed; California filed a letter on 4 September, and the Society for the Rule of Law Institute submitted an amicus brief.³ The caption has changed since August: the applicant is now the Postal Service rather than the President.³
The timing argument the Solicitor General made has now been overtaken by the calendar. He argued that without relief “two States—North Carolina and Alabama—will begin sending ballots to voters, the first as soon as September 4,” and that “[o]nce those ballot envelopes enter the mailstream, there is no retrieving them.”¹ That date has passed with no stay entered, so whatever the Court does on or after 8 September, it does after the event the application was framed to prevent.³¹

Amy Howe, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to clear the way for new mail-in voting rule to be implemented,” SCOTUSblog, 3 September 2026: “Shortly after the court’s ruling, Talwani lifted an injunction that she had issued in a separate challenge, brought by the League of Women Voters”; the 27 August temporary restraining order, its fourteen-day term and the provisions it reaches; the 3 September application and the 8 September response deadline; and the quoted passages from Solicitor General D. John Sauer. The lifting of the League of Women Voters injunction and the terms of the restraining order are reported as SCOTUSblog reports them; the District of Massachusetts docket was not consulted, and the First Circuit numbers on the second application (26-1944, 26-1988 and 26-1989) are the cheaper route to it. https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-clear-the-way-for-new-mail-in-voting-rule-to-be-imple/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
U.S. Postal Service, “Ballot Mail For Federal Elections,” final rule, 39 CFR Part 111, FR Doc. 2026-17238, published 26 August 2026 at 91 FR 54966–54992, effective 21 August 2026. The rule states that the Portal’s verification process becomes active on publication of the system of records governing it, which it expected “on or after August 17, 2026 (pending the Postal Service’s separate consideration of the comments on that SOR proposal).” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/26/2026-17238/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections ↩ ↩²
Supreme Court of the United States, docket for No. 26A297, United States Postal Service, et al., Applicants v. California, et al., docketed 3 September 2026; lower court United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Nos. 26-1944, 26-1988 and 26-1989. Proceedings as of 5 September 2026: “Application (26A297) for a stay, submitted to Justice Jackson” (3 September); “Response to application (26A297) requested by Justice Jackson, due by 10 a.m. (EDT), on September 8, 2026” (3 September); “Opposition to Request for Administrative Stay filed” (3 September); “Letter of respondent California, et al. filed” (4 September); “Amicus brief of The Society for The Rule of Law Institute submitted” (4 September). Counsel of record: Solicitor General D. John Sauer for the applicants; Ian Michael Fein, California Department of Justice, for the respondents. No order had been entered when this was checked. The first application, No. 26A124, was captioned Trump v. California. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/26a297.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
U.S. Postal Service, “Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records,” 91 FR 56368, published 1 September 2026, FR Doc. 2026-17986, establishing USPS 820.225, Federal Ballot Mail. “As comments were received … the SOR is effective with this publication of the Postal Service’s responses to comments received.” Answer to Question 5: “The government obtained relief from previous injunctions that had precluded implementation of any final rule governing ballot mail for the November 3, 2026 election.” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/01/2026-17986/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records ↩ ↩²

Footnotes