WASHINGTON — A second federal judge has frozen President Donald Trump’s attempt to rewrite mail-ballot handling at the U.S. Postal Service, ordering USPS not to implement an August rule tied to the president’s elections executive order as the Supreme Court already considers the administration’s appeal of a parallel Massachusetts injunction, the Associated Press reported (carried by ABC News and other outlets).

Late Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols of the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction barring the Postal Service from putting the Aug. 21 rule into effect. The nation’s highest court is already weighing the administration’s challenge to an order by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that likewise blocks enforcement before the midterms — coverage Insanity Developing previously tracked in the Talwani / SCOTUS stay fight.

“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that, absent an injunction, there is an increased risk that a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted in the upcoming elections,” Nichols wrote. “The public has a strong interest in ensuring that doesn’t happen.”

Nichols had refused an earlier injunction in May, finding the challenge premature before USPS acted. After the administration issued the formal rule, plaintiffs in Boston and Washington refiled. Election officials say the changes would be impractical this close to a general election, the AP reported.

The Postal Service regulations flow from a Trump executive order earlier this year aimed at limiting aspects of mail balloting. Two district-court freezes do not end the fight: the administration can still press SCOTUS and argue timing or standing. What Nichols adds is a second nationwide practical obstacle for USPS implementation while justices decide whether Talwani’s hold stands.

For voters and state election offices, the immediate effect is continuity under existing mail and absentee procedures unless a higher court lifts the injunctions. For the White House, it is another judicial check on using postal rulemaking to reshape midterm ballot logistics mid-cycle — the kind of late federal rewrite that state officials say they cannot operationalize without risking valid ballots going uncounted.

Sources