First Circuit declines to stay block on USPS mail-ballot rule as SCOTUS still weighs DOJ bid
A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to stay U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s preliminary injunction blocking mandatory parts of the Postal Service’s Aug. 26 Ballot Mail for Federal Elections rule for the Nov. 3 midterms, Reuters reported. The Biden-appointed panel said states and Congress regulate elections under the Constitution, not the executive branch, and saw no error in Talwani’s finding that letting the rule take effect would likely disenfranchise millions of voters. California Attorney General Rob Bonta hailed the ruling; USPS and the White House had no immediate comment. The Justice Department’s Supreme Court stay application in United States Postal Service v. California, No. 26A305 — filed before the 1st Circuit ruled — remains pending.
Center-left view
Reuters, the ACLU’s joint challenger statement, and SCOTUSblog’s emergency-docket coverage frame Thursday’s 1st Circuit order as leaving Talwani’s injunction in place through the midterms, citing the panel’s warning of chaos and widespread disenfranchisement and Bonta’s claim that the appeals court rejected another attempt to disrupt mail voting.
Reuters · ACLU · SCOTUSblog
Center-right view
After the 1st Circuit left Talwani’s PI in place, the administration’s live path remains the pending Supreme Court stay application. The DOJ filing, Washington Examiner, and Fox News stress Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s argument that the Postal Service’s barcode and recipient-list rules are a modest anti-fraud mail regulation and that irreparable harm follows if the injunction stands while more states mail ballots.
DOJ PI stay application · Washington Examiner · Fox News
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