The U.S. Postal Service's effort to restrict mail-in ballots returned to a Massachusetts courtroom on Thursday, where the Justice Department collided with a federal judge's citations from the U.S. Constitution.

Under President Donald Trump's executive order and the new USPS rules, states that choose to participate must submit voter names, addresses, and unique ballot barcodes through a secure Federal Ballot Mail Portal (USPS final rule FAQ). Ballot envelopes must meet USPS design standards, including official markings and barcodes matching the portal data. According to the USPS site, the federal portal is approved by election officials, not the general public. The rule applies to ballots containing federal races.

The implementation has been fraught with legal challenges and court restrictions. The Constitution's Elections Clause assigns the "Times, Places and Manner" of congressional elections primarily to state legislatures, with Congress holding a supervisory role — the textual basis for disputes over how far federal agencies may go in dictating how ballots are mailed and processed. Critics claim the process is Trump's attempt to "rig" the 2026 elections (Alternet). Legal analysts fear that the Supreme Court's conservatives are "chopping at the bit" to significantly restrict vote-by-mail (Alternet). The stakes are substantial: mail voting has grown into a major channel for American voters in recent election cycles, with tens of millions of ballots cast by mail in recent federal elections.

Cambridge freelance reporter John Hawkinson was in court Thursday to follow the exchange between U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani and the Justice Department.

The judge remarked that, 70 days out from the Nov. 3 election, "I have nothing from USPS, I don't have anything that will tell me whether this will have programming invitation portals, upload a spreadsheet 10 at a time? 10,000 at a time?" according to Hawkinson's account of the debate.

As of Thursday, there were 61 days until the election. Yet some states, like North Carolina, begin sending absentee ballots out as early as Friday, Sept. 4, according to the Secretary of State's website (NCSBE). The state with the latest vote-by-mail ballot start date is California, on October 5 — just 32 days away — according to its Secretary of State website (California SOS). All other states send their ballots out before then.

Nevada's elections chief announced this week that he has little faith in the federal government's ability to implement any of the new rules in time before ballots are delivered (Alternet).

The Justice Department told the judge in court that the final USPS rule "I believe, specifies [that] Excel files can be uploaded to the portal. They don't need to type it in."

The judge noted that "step one" would not be uploading the spreadsheet. "Step one is getting approval of the ballots," she posited.

"Step zero, under the rule, is a notification of intent to open a line of communication," the Justice Department claimed. There were a few other optional steps, such as designing an envelope.

"I'm just trying to do the ones that matter," the judge cut off. "I think every state has obligations under other laws to allow people to use the mail. So 'if you want to use it' isn't really an option."

"Out of respect for federalism, I just want to clarify states can do what they want," the Justice Department claimed.

At that point, Hawkinson said, the judge smiled.

"We have important issues here," the judge began. "You say, 'if you wish to use that.' You mean 'if the legislatures of the state?'"

The DOJ said, "yes."

"And every state's legislators have chosen?" the judge asked. The DOJ agreed.

"You'd be asking people, if they don't want to use the mail, to go back and change their laws?" the judge said.

The DOJ claimed it didn't follow her logic.

"Well, you say it's optional. But the states have already done this. USPS is aware of that. We have a system that allows states to make that decision — federalism," she quipped.

The DOJ went on to claim that it would take only two days for the USPS to process everything. How the court resolves the dispute — and whether the USPS can demonstrate a workable portal and processing timeline before states begin mailing ballots — is likely to shape what voters actually experience as absentee voting gets underway in the coming weeks.