The D.C. District Court, which had previously rejected challenges to Trump/USPS effort to take over vote-from-home (“mail-in” voting) as unripe, has now joined the Mass. District Court and 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, and decided Trump/USPS are acting unlawfully and unconstitutionally. 1/ #LawFedi
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This case was brought by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and political candidates and consolidated with others brought by NGOs. Latest opinion at https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2026/09/13/dscc_v._trump.pdf.
Court has ruled that political candidates and DSCC have standing to sue, bc they can be particularly injured - caused to lose elections - by the USPS final rule. 2/
@heidilifeldman The DC decision is now helpfully part of the Supreme Court's docket, in a filing from the government this morning urging that they overturn both injunctions: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A305/424032/20260914104419683_26A305%20--%20Supplemental%20Br.%20and%20App.pdf
@heidilifeldman The DC decision is now helpfully part of the Supreme Court's docket, in a filing from the government this morning urging that they overturn both injunctions: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A305/424032/20260914104419683_26A305%20--%20Supplemental%20Br.%20and%20App.pdf
The court also says NGOs doing voter education and support have standing because the new USPS “Rule will make voting by mail more difficult and, for some voters, effectively foreclose that option altogether.” Election officials also have standing because of trouble and expense of complying with the Rule. 3/
Like the Mass. Dist. Court and 1st Circuit, the DC Dist. Court rules that USPS has acted without Congressional authorization: there is no statute that authorizes USPS to do what it has done. 4/
This is the only ground the court reaches in the case, bc, the opinion says, it is sufficient to decide it. Notably, the DC District Court does not address the Executive Order that directed USPS to adopt the Final Rule.
Interesting bc it shows one way the Roberts Six could uphold injunctions against Rule while preserving a fig leaf covering the fact that the injunction effectively undoes Trump’s EO. 5/
@heidilifeldman But will the USPS follow the ruling?