Voting Rights · Report · File No. 261113-550
12 GOP attorneys general appeal ruling blocking Trump's mail ballot rule for 2028
Twelve Republican state attorneys general started an appeal on Thursday of a judge's order that stops the Postal Service from enforcing Trump-backed mail ballot rules. The case could decide how mail voters, including many older and homebound Americans, get ballots in 2028.
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Twelve Republican state attorneys general have begun an appeal to revive President Trump's mail-in voting restrictions in time for the 2028 election. On Thursday, they started the process of challenging a September order by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols 1.
The states are Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas 1.
What the blocked rule would do
The U.S. Postal Service released the rule in late August, after an executive order from Trump 1. It would require states to turn over lists of voters' names and addresses in order to have ballots delivered by the Postal Service 1.
The rule also called for election officials to submit barcodes for outgoing and return envelopes, and to send envelope designs to the Postal Service for review 2. Ballot mail that could not be verified would be returned to election officials to fix 2.
Nichols was nominated by Trump. He found that the Postal Service likely has no power to impose the voter-list requirement on states 1. He issued a preliminary injunction, a temporary order that stays in place while a case goes on, on Sept. 13 2.
As the Government concedes, the Postal Service could issue (and enforce) the Rule only if Congress gave it the authority to do so, but here no statute grants the Postal Service the power to issue key parts of the Rule,
His injunction blocks the Postal Service from carrying out the plan for all federal elections, including 2028 1. A separate order by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston stopped work on the rule too, but it applied only to this year's midterms 1.
Supreme Court and the midterm fight
In September, the Supreme Court refused to pause Talwani's ruling 1. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented 1.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion, said election officials did not have enough time to "reasonably implement the rule" this year 1. He also wrote that there was a "fair prospect" the final rule is within the Postal Service's legal authority, a sign the fight is not over 1.
there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority.
What happens next
It is not clear whether the Trump administration will appeal Nichols' ruling by Friday's deadline for filing a court notice 1. Justice Department spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said the department does not comment on ongoing litigation 1.
It is also unclear how long some of the states will stay in the case. Democrats won up and down the ballot in the midterms, and Democratic candidates are set to take over the attorney general's offices in Texas and Kansas in January 1.
Why it matters
The earlier push alarmed many election officials. They feared last-minute changes would disrupt the tens of millions of people who regularly vote by mail 1. Voters with disabilities and those in places without polling sites could have lost the ability to cast a ballot, they warned 1.
A whistleblower report claimed the online system officials would have had to use had not been properly tested. It said many eligible voters might not have gotten their ballots in time, or at all 1. Those are claims from that report, not court findings.
Nichols also noted that the Postal Service handled at least 54.4 million ballots in the 2022 midterms 2. The appeal means the rules for mailing those ballots may be argued over again well before the next presidential race.
The Record
- The Postal Service released a mail ballot rule in late August, following Trump's executive order 12.
- Judge Carl Nichols issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule, which the ruling says applies to all federal elections 12.
- Twelve Republican attorneys general began an appeal of Nichols' order 1.
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Sources
- NPR, “GOP state officials push to revive Trump's mail voting restrictions for 2028 election” (2026-11-13). npr.org/2026/11/13/nx-s1-6040409/trump-mail-in-voting
- Washington Examiner, “Trump-nominated judge blocks USPS mail-in ballot rule as Supreme Court weighs case” (2026-09-14). washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4725698/trump-nominated-
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