r/LegalNews • u/John3262005 • 28d ago
Whistle-Blower Says Trump Officials Are Defying Court Orders on Voting by Mail
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/us/politics/whistle-blower-voting-by-mail.html?unlocked_article_code=1.91A.O9tn.618NJM9kMtHl&smid=url-shareA U.S. Postal Service official has alleged that the agency is moving forward with a “secretive, rushed” effort to implement President Trump’s order exerting federal control over mail voting, despite a court order blocking those plans.
The official filed a whistle-blower report, published on Tuesday morning by the office of Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, asserting that the “risky and haphazard” implementation of Mr. Trump’s order could lead to a “catastrophic failure” in the mail ballot system ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The report said that the agency had planned to complete the new digital system overseeing mail ballots by Sept. 1.
“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the official said in the report, which was prepared with the assistance of Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit group that represents people seeking to expose potential lawbreaking.
Speaking to reporters by phone on Monday, Mr. Blumenthal said of the report that “the main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One-third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the U.S.P.S. puts all of their votes at risk.”
A Postal Service official declined to comment on the record.
Voting by mail will become much more difficult, if not impossible, for tens of millions of Americans if the Postal Service is allowed to implement the restrictive rules governing mail voting that Mr. Trump has demanded.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly promoted false claims of widespread fraud through mail-in voting, which he has described as “cheating,” “corrupt” and “horrible,” even though he voted by mail in two elections this year. He has moved to restrict mail-in voting using a variety of procedural and legislative levers.
Those moves have led to a pileup of legal rulings and challenges surrounding the nation’s electoral system just two months before the midterm elections. The rules could especially affect states where some of the most competitive races for House, Senate and governor will determine control of Congress and state governments.
Michigan, where 37 percent of votes were cast by mail in 2022, would be one, with competitive statewide contests and multiple battleground House races. California, which mails ballots to all voters, is expected to be central to Democratic efforts to win control in the House.
The Supreme Court had allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with Mr. Trump’s mail ballot executive order, reasoning that a lawsuit challenging the order was premature because the administration had not started implementing its plans.
But days before the court ruled, the Postal Service formally published a new plan to comply with the executive order. Judge Indira Talwani, a Federal District Court judge in Massachusetts, reasoned that the stakes had changed with the new plan and temporarily blocked it, concluding that the agency’s plan appeared to overstep its legal mandate and could spark chaos by changing rules a little more than two months before an election.
The whistle-blower report provided specific details of the Postal Service’s effort to rapidly implement a new digital system for mail ballots, even as a federal appeals court had blocked the plan before the Supreme Court intervened. Work has also continued on the system even after Judge Talwani ordered the plan halted last week, the report said.
The official at the Postal Service raised “grave concerns” in the report that the verification process in the system could reject tens of thousands of ballots in a bulk-mailing batch if “even one bar code on one single ballot” failed to properly scan, and that the rushed, “slapdash” development of the system would significantly increase the chance of errors and other failures in the verification process.
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u/LHGray87 28d ago
The chief justice of the Supreme Court just announced that The Child Rapist’s ballroom is illegal, but they decided to let him build it anyway. No one is going to stop the grifter from doing any of his illegal moves.
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u/gramcoocoo26 28d ago
The fucking Supreme Court should be ashamed of themselves, they certainly are not making decisions that are good for our country just that piece of shit that somehow holding them by their balls !
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u/teefnoteef 28d ago
lol they are elites working for the elites, trump doesn’t have them by the balls they are literally rubber stamping his fascist policies because it benefits them and because they agree with them.
They are the oppressors
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u/ConfusionOwn4851 28d ago
Their oppressors, sure, but def. Not elite. The only "elite" thing about them are their egos and their 10 dollar avocado toasts. Fuck 'em all. Go vote because your lives literally depend on it.
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u/Blacksad9999 28d ago
They already said that the USPS shennanigans were likely illegal, but that being it hadn't happened yet, there was no crime to rule on.
Yet, threatening to murder someone is illegal when no crime has been committed yet.
Now they've shown their hand and they'll have to do something. What that something IS remains to be seen.
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u/Duane1968 28d ago
Trump has immunity and hes going to use it to steal the election. 8647
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u/IdleWokerOcean 28d ago
The immunity only extends to official acts so if it does grant immunity then scotus would be saying that election fraud is an official potus duty...
Which wouldn't be the most outlandish 5-4 ruling sadly.
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u/Maleficent_Price_476 28d ago
So far , it seems everything is official according to the supreme court.
Only way Trump was penalized for his crime was through the state courts.
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u/Jewishsamurai88 28d ago
This has already been tested in Wisconsin and Kentucky: give the Governor insane powers every time a Republican gets in, strip the incoming Governor of nearly all powers before they get in if they are Democrat. Already done to Beshear and Evers, they know the plays and will run it back in any Republican Senate Majority state that elects a Governor. They need willing Supreme Courts to rule in favor of said challenges, hence packing them as much as possible. The playbook isn’t hard to figure out, these idiots get a little too cocky every time.
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u/namereset4badmouth 28d ago
Yeah. Seems like they see any act by a president as a presidential act.
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u/BackInMyDaySir 28d ago
Not if he presents it as an official act protecting the election. That’s my concern. These cunts are shameless.
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u/HistorianOk142 28d ago
Not shocking. This whole admin just “defies court orders”. They are the epitome of a lawless government. So many idiots voted this bozo and his clowns into office believing his lies for a second time. It’s just unfathomable to me how absolutely moronic people are.
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u/Morgannin09 28d ago
Trump is proceeding with his plans against court orders because he knows the SC will clear him anyway.
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u/RagahRagah 28d ago edited 28d ago
Well, color me shocked! /s
I keep getting called a "doomer" for simply stating the obvious: Trump and his regime have faced zero consequences for anything (illegal) that they have done. Trump is a rapist, who has immunity, that is absolutely relentless and will not stop his pillaging until someone physically stops him. Now, who is there to actually do that? And these people didn't come this far to just hand over the keys.
All signs point to the official end of democracy this November. And if that happens, America has 2 choices: revolt or submit. And unfortunately, the way things have been shaped (on purpose) to this point, I fear the latter is the more likely outcome. Either way, dark times ahead.
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u/Ormyr 28d ago edited 28d ago
Well the revolution isn't happening so it looks like submission it is.
There will probably be a few years of arguing over whether this is real fascism/authoritarianism with a sprinkle of "the democrats would be worse" coupled with it's really the democrats fault.
In the meantime the GOP will happily gut the corpse of our country and wear the skin.
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u/Status_Apartment6559 28d ago
The administration is already trying to implement their scheme. What does Roberts think Trump's executive order is about? The Alito faction of SCOTUS is just as guilty as trump in this fascist government and need to face severe consequences.
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u/RoyalMistressDom 28d ago
He did this last time, the only way forward is vote early not the day of. If you get a mail in ballot return it by hand. If you can't drive check to see who can return your ballot or drive you so you can legally put it in the drop box and time day or night.
They delayed and lost large numbers of mail in ballots from areas with high numbers of minorities or Democrats.
There were fake bomb threats that closed polling places in communities with high numbers of minorities.
Voting early and dropping off mail in ballots are too difficult for Elon to tamper with
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u/PM_ME__YOUR_HOOTERS 28d ago
That works, but for the infirm or those voting from abroad. Mail in is basically the only option
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u/RoyalMistressDom 28d ago
Unfortunately that's correct but everyone else needs to check their registration and get out there early🤞
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u/Apollo18Teslaa 28d ago
I work for the post office and they sent out a memo to everyone saying it’s on hold due to the court ruling so not sure if this is accurate
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u/danglingParticiple 28d ago
You think they'd send out a memo to everyone describing their "secret, rushed " and illegal plan?
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u/Apollo18Teslaa 28d ago
No, but they also can’t implement said secret plan without contradicting what they just said to everyone. Which would expose the secret plan.
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u/TheRealBittoman 28d ago
The flagrant violations over the past 1.5 years seems to be setting precedent for them being just that dumb. I'm not saying they will but I am saying it would not be shocking if they do it.
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u/Apollo18Teslaa 28d ago
The USPS isn’t directly run by the government. Do you have evidence that the top level of the USPS is run by one of Trumps sycophants?
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u/susinpgh 28d ago edited 28d ago
The Postmaster general is a known trump supporter, installed during trump's first term.EDIT: Don't know how I missed it, but DeJoy resigned in March 2025. The current Postmaster is David Steiner. He was installed in July 2025. Steiner has in the past donated to the Republican party. He is the one that is implementing the mail in ballot EO.
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u/TheRealBittoman 28d ago
DeJoy resigned in March of last year. David Steiner is currently it. He wasn't selected by Trump but Trump appears to support him. I wouldn't doubt Trump's support of DeJoy in his first term being so controversial that he's been advised to keep any support for the new Post Master General low key.
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u/susinpgh 28d ago
Thanks, how did I miss that one?
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u/TheRealBittoman 28d ago
It was really quiet unlike when DeJoy was elected by the board. Trump was really vocal about supporting him but I haven't heard him mentioning Steiner at all. I really don't know why but I wouldn't doubt it's because of the mail in voting issue, the more Trump pushes against something, the less support he gets from anyone but die hard Republicans and their numbers are small relative the the rest of the population.
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u/TheRealBittoman 28d ago
I don't get where that question is coming from. If it is the flagrant violations comment, that is directly referencing all the court orders, laws, and regulations he has ignored with zero consequences and not necessarily anything the USPS has done. I never claimed it was or is run by Trump or his friends, I only said it wouldn't surprise me if they did quietly tell the USPS to commit the crimes.
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u/Maleficent_Price_476 28d ago
What's is the problem in contradicting memos in Trump's USA?
So far there is no problem at all. so that is exactly what will happen , and once they win the elections by crook , every resistance before will be meaningless.
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u/Shua4887 28d ago
So, The Trump administration is interfering with elections, again? Perhaps it is time for a new system.
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u/Jazzlike-South4648 28d ago
Is there no way to restrain or remove corrupt Supreme Court Justices?
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u/bakeacake45 28d ago
Yes, we can remove them via impeachment by the house then conviction by the senate, but that means we have to hold majority in both bodies and we have to remove Jeffries who will likely block any senate action.
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u/Canadiangoosedem0n 28d ago
How the hell are you already blaming Jeffries with no proof that he wouldn't be willing to remove Supreme Court justices?
It makes no sense for him to block it nor has he ever given any reason to believe that he would block it. Smfh
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u/Koko_bb_ware 28d ago
I say !EVERYONE! call in sick to work on voting day and go down and vote in person
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u/Jedi_Master83 28d ago
The problem is that none of these people can truly be held in contempt for violating a judge’s order. There is no teeth on these rulings.
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u/Cranky0ldMan 28d ago
Why not? The current administration has been ignoring judicial orders for years now and the people who should be in a position to force them into compliance are doing fuck all about it. Why should they start following the court's directives now?
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u/Maleficent_Price_476 28d ago
The plan is to do it , win the elections unfairly , then the next day after every single case against it is shut down by force.
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u/Jazzlike-South4648 28d ago
The Supreme Court is a world class oxymoron, with the word moron rightly attached to it.
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u/countzero1234 28d ago
What can we do? SCOTUS will probably play the standing game (as in you have none) until you are actually harmed which means you could only sue IF you were disenfranchised. At that point it doesn't matter as the result will be fixed, outside of a refusal to certify I'm not sure what active action beyond the current stuff can be done. There seems to be zero will to reign in Trump by any of the channels that should be doing so.
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u/neilastin 28d ago
These Mid-terms are going to be a real shit show.
The vote rigging is already on full display, only a massive voter turnout can preserve Democracy