A federal appeals court on Saturday declined to allow Donald Trump's administration to implement in 23 states his executive order tightening mail-in voting rules before the November elections. The Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals rejected the administration's request to lift an injunction secured on 25 June by Democratic-led states from a lower-court judge who concluded key parts of the order were unconstitutional.

In a 2-1 ruling, the court rejected the Department of Justice argument that lawsuits were premature because agencies hadn't finalized implementation. The judges wrote the order "lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines" and "The Plaintiff States have no practical choice but to respond to the [order] now." The DOJ warned it may ask the supreme court to intervene.

Trump signed the order in March after years of pushing false claims about 2020 election fraud. The order directed DHS to compile citizen eligibility lists and USPS to only deliver ballots to voters on state-approved lists. Judge Indira Talwani, appointed by Barack Obama, ruled the president lacked authority to direct DHS to compile voter lists and USPS had no statutory authorization for binding mail-in voting regulations.