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Monday, September 7, 2026

The File

Every claim traces to a primary source. Uncertainty is labeled. Corrections are public.

Courts · Monday, September 7, 2026

The Postal Service asks the Court to free its ballot-mail rule.

The File desk · Sep. 7, 2026, 10:18 a.m. ET

Confirmed4 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from the Supreme Court docket in No. 26A305, Justice Jackson’s Sept. 6 order, the stay application PDF, and the Solicitor General’s withdrawal of No. 26A297. The First Circuit has not ruled in this lock.
  • Confirmed
    Saturday, Sept. 6, 2026: the United States Postal Service and the Justice Department filed Supreme Court application 26A305, seeking a stay of the Sept. 4 preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ordered any response by 4 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 9. Applicants include Postmaster General David Steiner.
  • Confirmed
    The same day, the Solicitor General withdrew the earlier stay application 26A297, filed Sept. 3. The Sept. 4 injunction, the government says, blocks mandatory parts of the Postal Service’s final rule. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia are listed as California-side respondents. Alabama and 11 other states appear as intervenors supporting the government.
  • Partially confirmed
    The stay application says First Circuit stay motions were filed Sept. 5 in Nos. 26-2029 and 26-2031. This desk does not have a First Circuit order. Whether the Supreme Court grants an administrative stay, or the full stay, is not decided.
David Steiner runs the mail. A Massachusetts court froze the mandatory pieces of his rule before the Nov. 3 midterms. Saturday he and the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to lift the freeze. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the other side until 4 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, Sept. 9. The Solicitor General withdrew an earlier stay bid the same day.
David Steiner runs the United States Postal Service. A Massachusetts court froze the mandatory pieces of his ballot-mail rule. Saturday he asked the Supreme Court to lift the freeze.
The paper is application 26A305, United States Postal Service v. California. The Justice Department signed it. Steiner is on the caption as Postmaster General and chief executive.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson took the case. She wrote that the Solicitor General had withdrawn the stay bid filed Sept. 3 — that was 26A297 — and now wants a stay of the preliminary injunction entered Sept. 4 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. “It is hereby ordered that any response to the new application (26A305) be filed by 4 p.m. (EDT) on September 9, 2026.”
The freeze, the government says, stops the Postal Service from treating as mandatory its final rule. The rule went into the Federal Register on Aug. 26 at . It sets how mail-in and absentee ballot envelopes must look, and how the data on them gets reported, including a . November 3 is the midterm.
The rule cites , , as background. That order, 91 FR 17125, told federal offices to do more around mail ballots.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia sit on California’s side of the caption, with Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro. Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas stand with the government.
Steiner also wants an immediate administrative stay — a pause while the Court thinks. D. John Sauer, the Solicitor General, wrote Scott S. Harris, the clerk, the same day and withdrew 26A297. He said Friday’s injunction was “substantively identical” to the Aug. 27 order, and that the United States had appealed to the First Circuit that evening.
The new application lists First Circuit stay motions filed Sept. 5 in Nos. 26-2029 and 26-2031. This desk does not have those orders. Whether the Court lifts the freeze, even for a few days, is not decided.
How we know

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Whether the Court grants an administrative stay or the full stay.
  • First Circuit posture: stay motions are listed as filed Sept. 5; no First Circuit order is in this lock.
  • The stay application and Justice Jackson’s docket order do not name the district judge.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Docket for 26A305, United States Postal Service, et al., Applicants v. California, et al.

    Supreme Court of the United States · September 6, 2026

    Application (26A305) for a stay, submitted to Justice Jackson. Order entered by Justice Jackson: The Solicitor General has withdrawn the stay application filed on September 3, 2026 (26A297) and now seeks a stay of the preliminary injunction entered by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on September 4, 2026. It is hereby ordered that any response to the new application (26A305) be filed by 4 p.m. (EDT) on September 9, 2026.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/26a305.html

  2. Source 2

    Application for a stay of the injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and request for an immediate administrative stay (No. 26A305)

    Solicitor General / Supreme Court docket PDF · September 6, 2026

    Applicants include the United States Postal Service and David Steiner, Postmaster General. Respondents in California include 23 states and the District of Columbia, plus Josh Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania. Intervenor-defendants include Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas. The application seeks a stay of the Sept. 4 preliminary injunction and an immediate administrative stay. Related First Circuit stay motions filed Sept. 5 in Nos. 26-2029 and 26-2031.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A305/423226/20260906094442523_USPS%20v.%20State%20of%20California%20PI%20No.%2026A%20-%20Stay%20App.pdf

  3. Source 3

    Letter withdrawing stay application No. 26A297

    Office of the Solicitor General · September 6, 2026

    On Friday, September 4, 2026, the district court formally issued a preliminary injunction that was substantively identical to its August 27 order. The United States appealed that injunction the same evening, and it filed a motion the next day in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Earlier today the United States filed a new application for a stay. The United States withdraws its September 3 stay application in No. 26A297.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A297/423227/20260906111028101%5F26A297%5FUSPS%5FLetter.pdf

  4. Source 4

    Ballot Mail for Federal Elections

    Federal Register (U.S. Postal Service final rule) · August 26, 2026

    Postal Service final rule, (Aug. 26, 2026), Doc. 2026-17238. Envelope-design and data-reporting standards for Federal Ballot Mail, including a . Cites , 91 FR 17125. Notes the Nov. 3, 2026 general election and existing District of Massachusetts injunctions.

    https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/26/2026-17238/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections