Democracy Docket reports:

A federal judge in Massachusetts barred the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Friday from advancing new mail voting restrictions that, if carried out, could leave vast numbers of people unable to cast a ballot by mail this fall.

The decision is a massive win for access to the ballot, though the administration is all but certain to appeal.

Issuing her ruling a day after a pivotal hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said USPS’s rule, which derives from a sweeping executive order President Donald Trump signed in March, was unconstitutional and unsupported by federal law.

“Unauthorized by the Elections Clause, the Final Rule clashes with Congress’s statutory scheme, and is unconstitutional where it intrudes not only on Congress’s Elections Clause powers but also that power left to the States,” Talwani, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, wrote Friday.

In her ruling, the judge sided with a coalition of pro-voting groups led by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and Democratic attorneys general from 24 states and the District of Columbia.

Talwani’s decision was largely expected. She’s said from the start that USPS’s new requirements and Trump’s order are unconstitutional and violate federal law. Still, coming just 60 days before the midterms, her decision is crucial. [Continue reading…]