A federal judge in Boston has placed a 14-day hold on the implementation of a Trump executive order that would restrict mail-in voting, reigniting a fast-moving legal battle with major implications for the November midterm elections. Judge Indira Talwani of the US District Court issued the temporary block on Thursday, just days before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out in several states.

The ruling is the latest turn in a legal saga that has already reached the US Supreme Court. The court's conservative majority on Monday overturned an earlier injunction by Talwani, finding that the initial legal challenges had been filed prematurely — not ruling on the order's legality itself. Shortly after, the Trump administration published a formal rule by the US Postal Service outlining how it would implement the order, effectively restarting the clock on the legal fight. Voting rights groups and Democratic-led states then refiled their lawsuits, prompting Talwani's new hold and setting up a hearing for 3 September. The case is widely expected to return to the Supreme Court.

At the heart of the dispute is a directive Trump signed in March requiring the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters whose names appear on lists provided by states, and only if envelopes meet specific formatting requirements. The executive order also instructs the Department of Homeland Security to construct a database of eligible citizen voters. Opponents argue the measure is unconstitutional, pointing to provisions in the US Constitution that grant states — and in some cases Congress, not the president — the authority to set election rules.

In her ruling, Talwani highlighted the practical impossibility of compliance on short notice, writing that plaintiff states have