First Circuit Slaps Down DOJ Request in Mail-in Ballot Suit - Now It Could Be Heading to SCOTUS

In a ruling on Saturday, the majority of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit panel refused to approve the Justice Department's request to lift a lower court's injunction relating to the Trump administration's efforts to clean up mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterms.

SCOTUS Wire reported in an X thread on the details of the 2-1 ruling:

🚨 The First Circuit will not allow USPS to adopt final mail-ballot rules or DHS to distribute federal citizenship lists for the 2026 elections in 23 states and D.C., leaving in place an order blocking key parts of President Trump's election executive order. pic.twitter.com/Jg8Rm5HwS0
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) July 25, 2026

Here's what the majority - Circuit Court Judges Gelpi and Rikelman - included in its opinion:

The panel wrote that the plaintiff states are already suffering concrete injuries because they must prepare now for the 2026 elections. The court pointed to diverted election staff, compliance planning, and imminent costs from redesigning mail-ballot systems and envelopes.
It rejected the administration's argument that the challenge is premature because USPS hasn't finalized its rules. Election officials cannot "wait and see," the court said, because administering statewide elections requires months of advance planning.
The panel also found a credible threat of enforcement. Reading the executive order as a whole, it said DOJ's directives to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of election officials created an imminent enough risk to support standing before the 2026 elections.

The third member of the panel, Judge Dunlap, wrote a partial dissent:

Judge Dunlap dissented in part. He argued the states likely lack standing to challenge the DHS citizenship-list provision because it merely provides information to states and does not itself require them to take any action. He would have allowed that part of the order to move…
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) July 25, 2026

Judge Dunlap dissented in part. He argued the states likely lack standing to challenge the DHS citizenship-list provision because it merely provides information to states and does not itself require them to take any action. He would have allowed that part of the order to move forward.

The lower court ruling came courtesy of U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, as my colleague Rusty Weiss wrote in June:

Talwani ruled that the Trump administration cannot direct the United States Postal Service (USPS) to withhold delivery of mail-in ballots from states that refuse to turn over their voter rolls for verification.
"The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections," she declared in her ruling.
Talwani, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2014 by a 94-0 vote, also emphasized that the Constitution reserves voter eligibility determinations to the states alone, and that neither the Executive Branch nor USPS has authority to impose these restrictions on mail ballots.

If this sounds familiar, it's because the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a stay in the USPS' favor on July 17.

USPS Scores Big Win, As Fed Appeals Court Stays Order on Vote by Mail Ballots

But as SCOTUS Wire notes, this new court ruling reaches a different result:

The First Circuit reached a different result than the D.C. Circuit earlier this month. The D.C. Circuit allowed USPS's proposed election-mail rule to move forward, but the panel says it confronted different legal issues with different plaintiffs.
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) July 25, 2026

While it hasn't been officially announced, the DOJ previously said that if its appeal here was rejected, it would likely request the case be taken up by the Supreme Court.

You can read the full decision here.

We'll keep you posted on any updates on this crucial story.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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