Update: On August 24, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court paused a lower court decision that had blocked the president’s second executive order from taking effect.
However, this decision was only about the timing of the lower court’s decision — not whether the president’s executive order is lawful. The litigation challenging the lawfulness of the executive order — including CLC’s case — is still ongoing.
The president still has no constitutional or legal power to change our election rules, nor does this ruling mean that his second executive order on voting will ultimately be held to be constitutional or lawful by the courts.
What is the new USPS rule?
On August 21, 2026, the United States Postal Service (USPS) submitted a final rule for publication that details how USPS plans on implementing the changes to mail-in voting that President Trump directed in his March 31, 2026, order.
On August 25, 2026, Campaign Legal Center and our partners filed new claims to prevent this rule from being implemented.
Despite the Supreme Court’s stay order and the final rule from USPS, the president still has no legal authority to change how our elections are run. Campaign Legal Center intends to continue the fight to prevent this harmful order from going into effect ahead of the midterms.
President Donald Trump is once again trying to control the electorate and change how our elections are run, even though only the states and Congress have power over our elections.
On March 31, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) purporting to impose new requirements for mail-in voting; create a national database of “verified” eligible voters based on faulty information; and direct the United States Postal Service (USPS) to only send mail-in ballots to certain individuals. This is unconstitutional and illegal.
That’s why Campaign Legal Center sued, alongside its co-counsel, Democracy Defenders Fund. On behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Secure Families Initiative (SFI) and Arizona Students’ Association (ASA), we are asking the court to prevent this illegal executive order from going into effect.
What’s in the executive order?
The EO directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to work with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in coordination with the Social Security Administration (SSA), to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens and send it to each state at least 60 days before a federal election.
It is unclear what, if anything, states must use that list for. But the EO also directs the U.S. attorney general to investigate and prosecute election officials who do not use the government’s new list, raising the threat of criminal punishment against hard-working election officials.
The EO also directs USPS to make significant changes to the way they handle mail ballots. Under the EO, USPS also must provide states with another new type of list that would include voters who enroll with USPS — which does not actually administer any absentee or mail voting programs.
Among regulation changes that the president does not have the authority to issue, USPS would also only be permitted to send mail ballots to individuals on the new USPS list. The EO does not specify how this USPS list would interact with the list described above that it requires the DHS to generate.
Finally, the EO threatens to withhold federal funding from states that do not comply, and orders states and localities to preserve election materials for a period of five years — but federal law only requires preservation of election materials for 22 months.
Why is this executive order unconstitutional?
There are several issues with this directive:
- 1. The president has no constitutional authority over our elections — that power lies with the states and Congress;
- 2. The Constitution gives Congress the exclusive power to make laws governing the delivery of mail in the United States. The president has no authority to make demands of USPS; and
- 3. The creation of a national citizenship database reliant on stale and faulty data for the purposes outlined in the EO will only serve to prevent millions of Americans from voting by mail, silencing their voices and unconstitutionally burdening their freedom to vote.
That’s why Campaign Legal Center and our clients and co-counsel are suing to stop this illegal and outlandish executive order.
This is just the latest unlawful attempt by the Trump administration to exert control over our federal elections.
The president is attempting to limit access to mail-in voting, even though voting by mail is a safe, secure and accessible way to cast a ballot. It is relied on by millions of Americans — including the president himself.
Attempting to restrict millions of Americans’ freedom to vote through an executive order is an unconstitutional and illegal abuse of executive power. Voting by mail effectively expands access to the ballot for more voters, which strengthens our democracy.
And independent agencies like USPS are meant to function autonomously to serve the American people, not the president’s political interests.
Additionally, any attempt to compile a list of eligible voters based on data that has been repeatedly proven to be incomplete and unreliable will only disenfranchise Americans who should have access to the ballot. Campaign Legal Center is involved in multiple lawsuits to defend against the consolidation of this data for this very reason: These attempts harm voters.
Americans also have the right to know that the government is using their personal data responsibly, maintaining it securely and keeping it private, as required by law.
It is clear that the president is using this unlawful executive order to unconstitutionally shape the electorate to his will, limit access to mail voting for millions of Americans, and attempt to sow doubt in how our elections are run.
What’s next?
This isn’t our first lawsuit against an illegal executive order issued by President Trump to interfere with elections.
We sued over President Trump’s previous executive order from March 2025 that attempted to change how elections are run — and we won.
We are once again asking the courts to stop this illegal power grab to safeguard the separation of powers and our system of checks and balances. The Constitution is clear on the power the executive office holds, and President Trump once again won’t succeed in his latest attempt at executive overreach into our elections.
Campaign Legal Center won’t let that happen — join us today to protect the freedom to vote for millions of Americans.