A US District Judge, Indira Talwani, has again blocked parts of a new US Postal Service policy on the handling of mail-in ballots, drawing accusations from conservative commentators that she is acting as an "activist" judge deliberately delaying the rule until it becomes too late to implement before the 2026 midterm elections. The policy, introduced following an executive order from President Trump, would require election officials to submit ballot-envelope designs for approval and upload voter data and tracking barcodes to a new USPS portal; critics argue Talwani's repeated interventions have themselves created the compliance difficulties she cites as grounds for blocking the rule.

Talwani issued a 14-day temporary restraining order last week, after her earlier June 25 permanent injunction was stayed by the Supreme Court on 24 August, which found the Trump administration likely to succeed in arguing the original challenge was premature. Following that ruling, USPS finalised the policy and Democratic-led states amended their lawsuit to challenge it directly, prompting Talwani's latest order, in which she found compliance "practically impossible" before the midterms and warned of possible voter disenfranchisement. Critics, including Jason Snead of the Honest Election Project and lawyer Gregory Teufel, dispute this, noting North Carolina counties are due to begin mailing absentee ballots imminently and that the burdens imposed by the rule are minimal, while Talwani rejected claims that her own earlier injunction caused the delays.