Twelve GOP AGs appeal mail vote ruling
State officials challenge a federal judge's decision that halted a new U.S. Postal Service requirement for voter address lists ahead of the 2028 election.
By Nia Foster ·
Twelve Republican state attorneys general have begun the process of appealing a federal court order that blocked new U.S. Postal Service rules for federal elections.
The group filed the appeal on Thursday, targeting a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in September. This ruling prevents the Postal Service from implementing a plan released in response to an executive order by President Trump.
The officials represent Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas. Their legal move seeks to revive the restrictions for the 2028 election cycle, although the midterm results in some of these states may affect the duration of their participation.
In Texas and Kansas, Democratic candidates are set to assume control of the state attorney general's offices in January. It is not yet known how long those states will remain active in the case given the shift in leadership.
The contested rule, released by the Postal Service in late August, requires states to provide lists of voters' names and addresses to receive delivery of federal ballots. Judge Nichols, a Washington, D.C.-based judge nominated by President Trump, determined that the agency likely lacks the statutory power to impose this requirement.
The judge wrote that no statute grants the Postal Service the power to issue key parts of the rule. He noted that the agency could only enforce the rule if Congress explicitly gave it that authority.
A similar ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston was upheld by the Supreme Court in September. That order stopped the Postal Service from working on its revised rule for the 2026 midterm elections. However, that decision only applied to that specific election cycle.
Nichols' injunction, in contrast, blocks the implementation of the plan for all federal elections, including the 2028 race. The Trump administration has a Friday deadline to file a court notice regarding its own plans to appeal the ruling. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
Election officials previously expressed concern that last-minute changes could disrupt mail voting for tens of millions of people. A whistleblower report stated that the online system required for compliance had not been properly tested. Some voters with disabilities or those in areas without polling sites feared losing access to mail-in ballots.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the Supreme Court's decision to stop the rule for the midterms. Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred, stating that local officials did not have enough time to reasonably implement the rule in 2026. He added that there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority.
