We have major news to share.

Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump regime’s attempt to weaponize the United States Postal Service — and prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots — violates the settlement in a lawsuit Public Citizen brought on behalf of the NAACP during Trump’s first term.

In other words, Trump cannot enlist the USPS in his campaign to disenfranchise Americans who rely on mail-in voting.

As Allison Zieve — head of the legal team here at Public Citizen — notes, the “court correctly recognized that the administration’s plan to impede mail-in voting was inconsistent with the Postal Service’s commitment to timely deliver election mail. The plan was unwise, unlawful, and a threat to the millions of voters who rely on mailed ballots to participate in our democracy.”

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Here’s more about this case:

• In July of 2020, the Republican mega-donor that Trump had installed as postmaster general announced a bunch of changes that resulted in substantial mail delays.

• All across the country — in small towns and big cities alike — folks went days or even weeks without mail service. They missed out on birthday cards and graduation announcements, letters from family members serving overseas, magazine subscriptions, and much, much more.

• People also missed even more important mail, like benefit checks and essential medicines.

• And because the changes were made during the pandemic, when more voters were relying on mail-in voting, the delays threatened to prevent timely delivery of untold numbers of ballots.

• Public Citizen — representing the NAACP and co-counseling with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund — sued.

• In that lawsuit, we made the case that the service disruptions instituted by Trump’s handpicked postmaster general should be suspended to restore prompt, reliable mail delivery and to ensure priority status for mail-in ballots (as had been the practice in past years).

• As a result of our lawsuit — including a preliminary injunction and emergency motions we fought for — the service disruptions were put on hold and there were minimal delays with mail-in ballots throughout the elections that November.

• We pressed forward with the lawsuit. In December of 2021, the Postal Service agreed to a series of critical measures to safeguard the delivery of mail-in ballots through the 2028 general election.

• That brings us to this year. On March 31, Trump — who wrongly believes that mail-in voting is rife with fraud (it is not) and inherently unfavorable for Republican candidates (also not) — issued an executive order directing the USPS to implement ludicrous rules for mail-in ballots that would disenfranchise countless eligible voters.

• In essence, Trump wants the Postal Service to act as some kind of “election gatekeeper,” deciding who it will and will not deliver ballots to. This plan violates both the law and the settlement in our case.

We’ll keep you updated on how all of our lawsuits against the Trump regime — 42 (so far) since Trump returned to power — are going.

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Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will make a difference right now.

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- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


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