Federal judge in Boston blocks parts of Trump's order limiting mail voting
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**Judge in Boston blocks parts of Trump’s mail-in voting order****A federal judge in Boston has blocked parts of President Trump's executive order to limit voting by mail. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.**
[](https://www.npr.org/2026/06/25/nx-s1-5844576/trump-mail-in-voting-order)
Elections
A federal judge in Boston has blocked parts of Trump's order to limit voting by mail
June 25, 2026 9:38 AM ET
President Trump holds up an executive order to limit mail-in voting as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick looks on in the White House's Oval Office in March. **Alex Wong/Getty Images******hide caption****
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Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Trump's executive order to limit voting by mail has hit a legal hurdle.
On Thursday, a Boston-based judge blocked parts of the order that, at least so far, has not directly affected mail-in voting for this year's midterm primary elections.
The legal fight, however, is likely to continue. The order pushes the boundaries of Trump's authority under the Constitution, which gives state legislatures and Congress — not the U.S. president — the power to set the rules for federal elections.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal the new ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, as a separate appeal of an earlier ruling by another federal judge moves forward in a similar set of lawsuits based in Washington, D.C.
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Why the Supreme Court's voting rights ruling could play a big role at the local level
Among other directives, Trump's order from March calls for the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Service to create lists of adult U.S. citizens or eligible voters in each state. It also calls for USPS, which is independent of a president's administration, to deliver mail-in ballots only to people on those lists.
In response, USPS has proposed using information from state election officials to create voter lists. Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers Wednesday that under the proposal, the Postal Service would not deliver the mail ballots of any states that refuse to turn over their absentee voter lists to the federal government.
For the D.C.-based cases, the judge found in late May that it was too early for an emergency ruling that would block directives that the Trump administration has yet to carry out. Democrats are appealing that judge's ruling to the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia.
**_Editor's note:_**_USPS is a financial supporter of NPR._
_Edited by__Benjamin Swasey_
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