The Trump administration’s efforts at “ensuring integrity in federal elections” continue to take hard blows from the courts, as a federal judge officially blocks the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) recently proposed "Quid Pro Quo" mail-in ballot policy.
District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that USPS’s recently proposed amendment to the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) violates a 2021 legal settlement agreement that requires USPS officials to “prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of election mail” through the 2028 elections.
Judge Sullivan’s decision sides with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which also brought the suit that led to the 2021 legal settlement and another civil suit.
The 2021 agreement was established after the NAACP sued USPS, arguing that its July 2020 major operational “Pivot” led to “unreliable and widespread delays” that jeopardized the on-time delivery of mail-in ballots for the November 2020 election.
USPS Aligns With Trump's Executive Order
In June 2026, USPS Postmaster General David Steiner proposed the amendment, aiming to align the agency with President Donald Trump’s “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections” Executive Order.
According to Steiner, the rule would authorize USPS to deny states mail-in ballots if they do not provide the agency with a list of names, addresses, and “unique ballot envelope identifiers” of individuals seeking to obtain a mail-in ballot.
Immediately after the proposal was filed, the NAACP fired back, requesting the U.S. District Court for D.C. to order the postal service to comply with its settlement agreement. The civil rights group argued that the agency was ignoring its obligation to implement “extraordinary measures” for mail-in ballots.
Trump's Election Crackdown "Legally Void"
In his ruling, Judge Sullivan also addressed President Trump’s EO, affirming that it was “designed to exert federal control over who in the United States may be sent a mail-in or absentee ballot in federal elections by the Postal Service.”
Sullivan’s decision comes less than a week after U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani declared President Trump’s EO “legally void" in a suit also brought forth by the NAACP.
