A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked President Trump's 2026 executive order on mail voting, and the Justice Department is now asking the Supreme Court to lift that block before the November elections [1][2].
The mechanism is the point. The executive order directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to compile citizenship lists for states, which would then forward their lists of voters who requested mail-in or absentee ballots to the U.S. Postal Service [1]. The order then instructs USPS not to deliver ballots to voters who are not on the lists [1]. ABC News describes the same architecture from the litigation record: a federal voter citizenship list compiled by DHS, plus a requirement that states submit their voter registration lists to USPS [2].
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani first enjoined the policy, and a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that order in June [1]. That ruling covered 23 states and the District of Columbia [1][2]. A separate order from Talwani, issued in response to a lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, extended the block nationwide [1].
In a supplemental brief, Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to stay both injunctions, warning that further delay could 'run out the clock' on the administration's ability to implement the order for November [1]. 'In all events, it is critical that the Court act promptly on the pending stay,' Sauer wrote [1].
The Supreme Court received briefs in the emergency stay application early last week and has not yet issued an order [1]. ABC News reports that both cases are likely to reach the justices very soon, and that the outcome will decide whether the administration can implement the order for the November elections [2].
The stakes sit with the voters the lists would sort. If the citizenship lists ultimately control ballot delivery, any registered voter who requested a mail ballot but does not appear on the DHS or SSA list could have that ballot withheld by the Postal Service [1]. For now, Talwani's injunctions keep the order from taking effect, and the next move belongs to the Supreme Court.
