On Monday, the justices refused to block a lower-court decision that stopped the rules. The court issued a 7-2 order denying the emergency request. According to the order, the government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the injunction, the Daily Caller reported.
This decision keeps the new federal rules on hold. Current procedures will allow states to keep mailing ballots. The Postal Service cannot enforce the new requirements just yet. The door is shut for now.
The rules came from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March. The order was titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” It aimed to change how mail ballots look and move.
Under the plan, states had to redesign ballot envelopes. They needed an election-mail logo and a barcode for each voter. The envelopes also required high-speed scanning features. States had to send voter details to a federal portal for review.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court has refused to let USPS’s new mail-ballot rules take effect for the 2026 midterms. Justices Alito and Thomas dissent. pic.twitter.com/D27sx76txJ
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 14, 2026
The U.S. Postal Service could reject any mailings that did not fit the new design. They could return them to election officials. This would have stopped ballots from reaching voters if the state failed to comply.
The court did not say the rules were illegal forever. They said the timing was the problem. Indira Talwani, the lower court judge, ruled that states were unable to pivot this late in the election cycle. She feared this would risk disenfranchising voters.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately to support the outcome. He noted that applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious. He added that state officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.
Justices Alito and Thomas disagreed. They dissented from the order. However, the majority held firm on the immediate delay. The Supreme Court emphasized that it had not decided whether the plan itself was legal.
This ruling affects the November midterms. It leaves a lower court’s nationwide block in place while the case moves through appeal. The fight continues in the courts. The administration still has a chance to argue for the rules later.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia sued to block the order. They were led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Nonprofit groups, including the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, also filed suit.
The Supreme Court’s order is clear on the immediate future.
