A federal judge refused to lift her 14-day order blocking key parts of a new Postal Service rule. The rule set conditions on ballot delivery: election officials had to certify voter data through a federal portal and use federally approved envelopes. Ballots that fell short would not be delivered. The judge found the Postal Service likely had no power to write the rule at all, and that the rule was likely unconstitutional. She set a Sept. 3 hearing on a longer freeze. The midterms are Nov. 3, and the first states are already getting ballots ready to mail.
What we’re less sure of2 of 7 claims
Medium
A hearing on a longer preliminary injunction is set for September 3.
A specific scheduling date supported by the news reporting and the docket entries, but a court calendar item that can move; the cited orders are the only anchor for the exact date.
Medium
The blocked rule would have made ballot delivery conditional on certification through a federal portal, a departure from the Postal Service's historical role in elections.
The portal mechanism is documented in the Federal Register rule, but the 'departure from historical role' framing is an interpretive comparison drawn from Brookings and USPS institutional history (Pub 100, 2020 post-election analysis) rather than an explicit finding in the story.