{"id":10942,"date":"2020-09-21T00:05:30","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T00:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/09\/21\/us-judge-blocks-postal-service-changes-that-slowed-mail\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:30:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:30:48","slug":"us-judge-blocks-postal-service-changes-that-slowed-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/09\/21\/us-judge-blocks-postal-service-changes-that-slowed-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"US judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SEATTLE \u2014 A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them \u201ca politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service\u201d before the November election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said he was issuing a nationwide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/09\/10\/states-ask-judge-to-reverse-changes-at-us-postal-service\/\" target=_blank>preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration<\/a> and the U.S. Postal Service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The states challenged the Postal Service\u2019s so-called \u201cleave behind\u201d policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as first class mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/09\/11\/states-ask-judge-to-reverse-changes-at-us-postal-service\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20254697750808.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">States ask judge to reverse changes at US Postal Service<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A group of states suing over service cuts at the U.S. Postal Service is asking a federal judge to immediately undo some of them, saying the integrity of the upcoming election is at stake.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge noted after a hearing that Trump had repeatedly attacked voting by mail by making unfounded claims that it is rife with fraud. Many more voters are expected to vote by mail this November because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the states have expressed concern that delays might result in voters not receiving ballots or registration forms in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe states have demonstrated the defendants are involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service,\u201d Bastian said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also said the changes created \u201ca substantial possibility many voters will be disenfranchised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bastian, an appointee of former President Barack Obama,  issued a written order later Thursday that closely tracked the relief sought by the states. It ordered the Postal Service to stop implementing the \u201cleave behind\u201d policy, to treat all election mail as first class mail rather than as slower-moving categories, to reinstall any mail processing machines needed to ensure the prompt handling of election mail, and to inform its employees about the requirements of his injunction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Postal Service spokesman Dave Partenheimer said the organization is reviewing its legal options, but \u201cthere should be no doubt that the Postal Service is ready and committed to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lee Moak, a member of the USPS Board of Governors, called the notion any changes were politically motivated \u201ccompletely and utterly without merit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/08\/09\/postal-service-emerges-as-flash-point-heading-into-election\/\" target=_blank>Following a national uproar<\/a>, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump and the GOP, announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/08\/19\/postal-service-halts-some-changes-amid-outcry-lawsuits\/\" target=_blank>he was suspending some changes<\/a> \u2014 including the removal of iconic blue mailboxes in many cities and the decommissioning of mail processing machines. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/08\/19\/postal-service-halts-some-changes-amid-outcry-lawsuits\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20231705388481.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Postal Service halts some changes amid outcry, lawsuits<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Facing mounting public pressure and a crush of state lawsuits, President Donald Trump&#039;s new postmaster general says he is halting some operational changes to mail delivery that critics blame for widespread delays and warn could disrupt the November election.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But other changes remained in place, and the states \u2014 including the battlegrounds of Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada \u2014 asked the court to block them. Led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the states said the Postal Service made the changes without first bringing them to the Postal Regulatory Commission for public comment and an advisory opinion, as required by federal law. They also said the changes interfered with their constitutional authority to administer their elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the hearing, Justice Department attorney Joseph Borson sought to assure the judge that the Postal Service would handle election mail promptly, noting that a surge of ballots in the mail would pale in comparison to increases from, say, holiday cards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also said slow-downs caused by the \u201cleave behind\u201d policy had gotten better since it was first implemented, and that the Postal Service in reality had made no changes with regard to how it classifies and processes election mail. DeJoy has repeatedly insisted that processing election mail remains the organization\u2019s top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of confusion in the briefing and in the press about what the Postal Service has done,\u201d Borson said. \u201cThe states are accusing us of making changes we have not in fact made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voters who are worried about their ballots being counted \u201ccan simply promptly drop their ballots in the mail,\u201d he said, and states can help by mailing registration form or absentee ballots early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Borson also insisted that the states were required to bring their challenge not in court, but before the Postal Regulatory Commission itself \u2014 even though by law the commission has 90 days to respond. Bastian rejected that notion, saying there was no time for that with the election just seven weeks away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The states conceded that mail delays have eased since the service cuts first created a national uproar in July, but they said on-time deliveries remain well below their prior levels, meaning millions of pieces of mail that would otherwise arrive on-time no longer are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also noted some of the effects the changes had already wrought: Michigan spent $2 million earlier this year on envelopes that met election mail standards \u2014 only to learn that the Postal Service wouldn\u2019t treat them as first class mail. In Madison, Wisconsin, the number of ballots that weren\u2019t counted because they arrived late for the August primary doubled from the August 2018 primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further, they cited research from information technology consultant Mynor Urizar-Hunter, who helped start a website tracking the USPS changes, noting that 78% of the machines slated for removal were in counties won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The states suing are Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia \u2014 all led by Democratic attorneys general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pennsylvania is leading a separate multistate lawsuit over the changes, and New York and Montana have filed their own challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them \u201ca politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service\u201d before the November election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":30841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,106,31,33,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[612],"class_list":["post-10942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"E2SKVCXIYZA4FMICQFGJZHTPTE","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/09\/20\/us-judge-blocks-postal-service-changes-that-slowed-mail\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mail - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them \u201ca politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service\u201d before the November election.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mail\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them \u201ca politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service\u201d before the November election.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/09\/21\/us-judge-blocks-postal-service-changes-that-slowed-mail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Federal Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-21T00:05:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T04:30:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Johnson, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Johnson, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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