A federal judge has halted the U.S. Postal Service from implementing new mail-in ballot restrictions, ruling that the proposed policy violated an existing legal agreement requiring the agency to prioritize the prompt handling of election mail.

The ruling, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., dealt another legal setback to President Donald Trump’s effort to tighten rules governing mail-in voting ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The decision marked the second courtroom loss for the administration on the issue within two weeks, as Republicans seek to retain control of both chambers of Congress.

The Postal Service announced the proposed changes in May, saying states would be required to submit voter lists and adopt revised election procedures before the agency would transport mail-in ballots. Under the proposal, states that failed to satisfy those requirements would have had their ballots refused for delivery.

Judge Sullivan, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, agreed with arguments brought by the NAACP, which contended that the Postal Service’s proposal conflicted with a 2021 settlement requiring the agency to take “extraordinary measures” to ensure timely delivery of ballot mail.

{Matzav.com}