Judicial activism remains a key obstacle for the Trump administration, as seen Thursday when an Obama-appointed judge temporarily blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing new requirements for mail-in voting that had just taken effect.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s actions come after the Supreme Court threw out a nationwide injunction against President Trump’s executive order on noncitizen mail-in ballots. That was a separate case before Talwani, with the high court ruling no party had standing and a ripe claim. The decision allowed the administration to move ahead with implementing efforts to tighten the rules for mail voting ahead of the November midterm elections.
(The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Department of Homeland Security to move forward with a proposal to create lists of residents in each state who are eligible to vote.)
Not to be deterred, Talwani “issued an order in a companion case taking the Postal Service to task for daring to publish a draft set of proposed regulations in the Federal Register while she had enjoined the USPS from even ‘initiating . . . rulemaking’ to implement the EO,” wrote National Review’s Dan McLaughlin.
BREAKING: ONE OBAMA JUDGE just BLOCKED President Trump’s key mail-in ballot rules AGAIN, despite the Supreme Court ruling
Indira Talwani is threatening them with CONTEMPT if USPS is not told to essentially stand down
She found a loophole DAYS LATER and has now blocked… pic.twitter.com/OET3stpA5i
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 28, 2026
“Based on the record presently before the court, Plaintiff States face irreparable harm where they are required to comply with a likely unconstitutional regulation for which compliance is practically impossible as to the 2026 midterm elections, now little more than two months away,” Talwani wrote in her order. “Most Plaintiff States have already ordered their mail ballots, and some are required by state law to send them to eligible voters as early as next week.”
The ruling from Talwani, the daughter of immigrants from India and Germany, halts for 14 days enforcement of several key provisions of the Postal Service’s rule for the midterm elections.
After the 2020 election, Democrats learned that ANYTHING is possible with unrestricted mail-in voting, and activist judges appear to be doing their part to keep the process wide open.
Social media users are calling on “do-nothing” Republicans to start impeaching judges who put political bias before the law — here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
JUST IN: An Obama Appointed Judge Indira Talwani Has Just BLOCKED The USPS Mail-in-Ballot Rules Days After The Supreme Court Lifted the Previous injunction.
The mail-in-ballot rules required states to submit lists of voters receiving mail/absentee ballots to a USPS portal, use… pic.twitter.com/eT3rnINPH1
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 28, 2026
How is this possible?
The SUPREME COURT lifted the injunction… what are we even doing here?
Do we even have a democracy anymore?!!!!
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) August 28, 2026
Talwani also blocked parole terminations, forced SNAP payouts, & kept Planned Parenthood funded after Congress defunded. Arrest & deport her
— garypayton2 (@garypayton22) August 28, 2026
How is it not contempt by the judges to keep going against SCOTUS? Finding a “loophole”, is just an attempt to sidestep a ruling by the highest court in the land by a lower court. These judges should face consequences for their actions.
— NeuroSpastic (@NeuroSpastic) August 28, 2026
— Nolan Archer (@NOLAN_X_ARCHER) August 28, 2026
