‘We’re Not Doing Anything’: USPS Chief David Steiner As Supreme Court Leaves Trump Ballot Rule Blocked

The US Postal Service has stopped work on a computer system designed to verify outbound federal ballot mailings after the Supreme Court on Monday denied the Trump administration's request to suspend a lower-court injunction blocking implementation of the USPS rule.

“There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything,” Postmaster General David Steiner told AP on Thursday. He said USPS would not enforce the new requirements during the 2026 federal election.

The Supreme Court case concerned a preliminary injunction issued by the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on September 4. In its Monday order, the Supreme Court denied the government's request for a stay, saying the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the injunction and that the factors required for emergency relief did not favour a stay. Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred, while Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Trump's Mail Voting Plan

The dispute stems from Trump's March 31 executive order, which directed the federal government to establish state citizenship lists using federal records and other databases and directed USPS to establish standards for federal mail-in and absentee ballots.

The order directed USPS to require federal mail ballots to use specified envelopes and unique Intelligent Mail barcodes. It also provided for state-specific lists of people receiving mail-in or absentee ballots.

The final USPS rule published on August 26 established the Federal Ballot Mail Portal. Under the rule, authorised state officials would submit a voter's name, address and unique barcodes through the portal. USPS would then review outbound federal ballot mail before accepting it and could return mailings that did not meet the requirements.

Portal Draws Scrutiny

The system came under scrutiny after an anonymous whistleblower disclosure to Senator Richard Blumenthal's office alleged that USPS had developed the portal on an accelerated timetable without meaningful testing. The disclosure also alleged that the agency had adopted a zero-per-cent failure threshold that could result in ballot mailings being rejected, with concerns over the absence of an adequate appeals process.

USPS disputed the characterisation of its work. In a September 1 statement, the agency said it had spent months developing the portal and was finalising it, while verification procedures were not being performed because of court orders. USPS said the portal would allow election officials to share lists of people receiving ballots by mail.

On September 4, Steiner said USPS had acted within its legal authority and would follow the courts' determination. He said the rule was intended to establish standards for federal ballot mail while election officials remained responsible for election administration.

With the Supreme Court declining to lift the injunction, USPS will not enforce the new verification requirements for the 2026 federal election, according to Steiner's comments to AP.

Scale Of The Migration Surge

The administration's push for citizenship verification comes against the backdrop of a major increase in migration to the US. An Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 4.5 million migrants were released in the United States after crossing the Mexican border between October 2018 and July 2025, including people who entered both legally and illegally. The data records their self-reported destinations and shows how the migration surge reshaped communities across the country.

AP's analysis found that nearly six in 10 of those migrants were women and children, while Florida was the most popular state overall among the destinations recorded.