{"id":11316,"date":"2020-08-25T23:23:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T23:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/25\/ny-wants-court-to-declare-mail-disruptions-unconstitutional\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:34:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:34:54","slug":"ny-wants-court-to-declare-mail-disruptions-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/08\/25\/ny-wants-court-to-declare-mail-disruptions-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"NY wants court to declare mail disruptions unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK \u2014 New York\u2019s attorney general added Tuesday to the growing pile of lawsuits seeking to halt disruptions to the U.S. Postal Service ahead of November\u2019s presidential election, saying several communities in her state have gone some days without mail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said the changes imposed by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration amounted to voter suppression with the use of mail-in ballots expected to surge while people stay home because of the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is an ardent opponent of voting by mail, even though he has voted by mail himself. He speculates that widespread use of mail-in ballots could lead to fraud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese changes are a thinly veiled attempt to advance the president\u2019s own political agenda,\u201d James told reporters on a conference call announcing the lawsuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced last week that he was suspending new operational changes<\/a> to mail service amid complaints that they had led to delivery slowdowns, but that it wasn\u2019t necessary to restore machinery and collection boxes already taken away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump previously acknowledged withholding emergency aid<\/a> from the postal service to make it harder to process mail-in ballots, but later altered his position, saying he wanted to speed up the mail, not slow it down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since March, according to James\u2019 lawsuit, the Republican president has publicly voiced opposition to mail-in voting on more than 30 occasions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

James\u2019 lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., names Trump, DeJoy and the U.S. Postal Service as defendants. DeJoy, a former supply-chain CEO and major donor to Trump and the GOP, faced grilling questions from Congress <\/a>in recent days over the changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit, which seeks a court order to cancel the changes, is the third filed by state attorneys general over alterations to the postal service\u2019s operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\t