Supreme Court sides with Attorney General Ellison, blocks unlawful USPS voting rule

Majority of court finds U.S. Post Service unlikely to succeed on the merits, declines to lift stay of preliminary injunction issued by federal district court

Federal court issues temporary restraining order to block rule from taking effect, calls compliance with it ‘practically impossible’ before November election

Close to 450K Minnesotans voted safely and securely by mail in 2024 election

September 14, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison tonight hailed the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that declined to lift a stay on the implementation of a new rule of the U.S. Postal Service that would have imposed burdensome requirements on vote-by-mail systems ahead of the November 3 midterm elections and caused chaos in Minnesota’s constitutional prerogative to administer elections.

A majority of the Supreme Court tonight found that the federal government “is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction. And the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this Court do not favor a stay.” Justice Kavanaugh concurred that “applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”

“The Constitution says in black and white that it is the prerogative of the states to set the time, places, and manner of elections. I am gratified that the Supreme Court has rightfully found what is clearly the case, that the President and the federal government are unlikely to succeed their effort to upend this prerogative and that this close to the election, they cannot be allowed to do so,” Attorney General Ellison said. “This coalition and I stood up immediately to challenge the Trump Postal Service’s illegal attempt to inject chaos into our elections and decide whose votes get to count and whose don’t. I’m gratified we have beaten back this insidious rule.

“Elections across America are fair and secure, and nowhere more so than Minnesota, which runs the best elections in the country, thanks to Secretary of State Steve Simon,” Attorney General Ellison continued. “While Trump keeps doing everything he can to cast doubt on this fundamental fact and weaponize the federal government against our elections — including by inciting a violent insurrection on the seat of our democracy — we in Minnesota will keep standing unflinchingly for our right to exercise our vote freely and without intimidation, including from Donald Trump.”

On August 26, Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of 25 states sued to block the unlawful rule, winning a temporary restraining order on August 28 from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, with the court noting that it would be “practically impossible” for the states to comply with the rule before the election. The same court issued a preliminary injunction on September 4.

History of the unlawful rule

On March 31, President Trump issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots only to voters on the list. On August 21, USPS announced a new rule implementing the President’s demands that require states to register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling the registered voters into state-specific lists. The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes created by states, which states are required to meet and get approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-generated lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that fail to comply with the rule’s new standards.

With the start of the general election season mere weeks away, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition have argued in their lawsuit that the rule would inflicts significant, irreparable harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. The coalition has argued that USPS’s rule would upend successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures and violates federal statutes and the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections.

Over the past several decades, voting by mail has become more popular across the country. In the 2024 general election, 446,576 Minnesotans voted by mail. Since the inception of vote-by-mail, Congress has never exercised its authority to limit it, and in fact, has only taken action to expand and protect mail voting for military and overseas voters. Congress has also never authorized USPS to monitor or control the transmission of mail ballots.

Attorney General Ellison was joined in filing this lawsuit, which was co-led by the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington, by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.