MUST-SEE: Trump WEAPONIZES Postal Service in shock update

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, just a. few days ago, you and I spoke about a. highly anticipated ruling coming down. that would prevent Trump from being able. to use the Postal Service as his way to. prevent mail-in ballots from being. delivered. Now, we have a brand new. ruling that is definitely cause for. alarm. Can you explain what happened at. the appellate court level? >> Yeah, so there are a series of these. cases challenging Donald Trump's most. recent executive order that seeks to. weaponize the US Postal Service against. people trying to vote by mail.

Essentially, if states don't agree to. turn over their voter data information. to the government, including the US. Postal Service, as you say, they won't. be able to receive a mail-in ballot or. have that mail-in ballot delivered. This. is an illegal and unconstitutional. executive order. Well, it was challenged. in a variety of ways. One what lawsuit. was filed by me and my law firm on. behalf of the Democratic Party. Another. lawsuit was filed by the attorneys. general of 23 states in in.

Massachusetts. But, a third lawsuit was. challenged was filed that actually. sought to. enforce a prior settlement. This is a case that was brought in 2020. by the NAACP and others. and was settled by the Postal Service. And under the terms of that settlement, essentially the Postal Service agreed. that it was not going to do anything to. reduce mail service or make it harder. for people to vote by mail. The NAACP.

sought to enforce that in federal court. and they won at the trial court level. That victory has now been blocked or. stayed by the Court of Appeals in. Washington, D.C. while that case moves. up through the system. So, this is a bad. decision. This is a wrong decision in my. estimation. I think that the Court of. Appeals panel that looked at this got. this wrong. And it's not the final word. because this case will now go up on. appeal. And also it's not the only. backstop against the the Trump.

administration. They are still under an. injunction in the federal court in. Massachusetts, which blocked this. executive order in the 23 states that. that the AG sued over. Now, that's not. all 50 states, but it's a big chunk of. states. So, it's a bit of a complicated. soup right now of cases involving. this executive order. There is a rule. making that the Postal Service is in the. midst of. concluding to to try to finalize this in.

time for the 2026 midterms. There's I. suspect there'll be more litigation if. and when they try to actually put this. rule forward and try to put it in place. So, my big message to everybody is make. sure you are subscribed to this channel. because as there are these twists and. turns, Brian and I will bring them to. you in breaking news format and also. explain to you what the various pieces. are, how they fit together. So, go ahead. and do that right now. >> I would also add make sure you're.

subscribed to Mark's outlet democracy. docket because that is where I got my. news on this exact topic and it is the. only outlet covering this exact topic. So, I'm going to put that link right. here on the screen and also in the post. description of this video. If not just. to support the invaluable work that Mark. does by getting his voice out there and. amplifying that voice in this ecosystem. Also, make sure to support democracy. docket so that you get accurate timely. legal news, democracy news, voting. rights news delivered right to your. inbox. Mark, to that end, can you just. sum up what the administration's efforts.

to do here? If they're successful, if. the Republicans are successful, if Trump. is successful, what does that look like. at the culmination of this effort? >> Yeah, it will be devastating for. democracy. I mean, let's not let's not mince words. I mean, this is a this is a potential. catastrophe for democracy that is just. on the horizon. And if Donald Trump is able to weaponize. the US Postal Service and say that some. people get their ballots delivered by.

mail and some people are not eligible to. get their ballots delivered by mail, then Donald Trump will have gained a. foothold into deciding who gets to vote. and who doesn't. Particularly in all. vote-by-mail states, this would be. catastrophic. But even in states that. are not entirely vote-by-mail states, like California where you live, states. like Arizona, which have very, very. substantial majorities that vote by. mail, even if though everyone doesn't, uh you're going to see. uh just cataclysmic effects on. democracy. So, we have to fight like.

hell about this in court. We have to. make sure everyone is educated about. what's going on. We potentially need to. seek mitigation if the courts do not do. their job and prevent this. Uh but I'm optimistic that at the end of. the day we will win these court cases in. enough places that will make this. impractical. You know, one of the things. that gives me hope here is that it. really isn't realistic for the US Postal. Service to have one rule in, for. example, 27 states and a different rule.

in 23 states. Why? Because the people. who vote by mail, they're in all 50. states. So, you may be voting by mail in. California, but you are actually. delivering your ballot in Virginia or in. South Carolina or in Florida. Why? Because you may be traveling or you may. be at school out of state but still. voting in California. So, it's probably. not one of these things that the Postal. Service can work around if they are. enjoined in any significant number of. states. It probably means this is dead, at least for 2026, but I don't want to.

sugarcoat it. This is a potential. ticking time bomb. for free and fair elections as we sit. here. only 100 days out from the midterms. >> Mark, to what extent does the Postal. Service itself have autonomy? And the. The that I ask this question is kind of. a follow-up question. Was it a mistake. then for Joe Biden to leave in place. Trump's choice for. uh Postal Service, the director of the. Postal Service, Louis DeJoy? Because if. they do have the autonomy to push back,

presumably it would have been smart to. put in place somebody who was not going. to be his handpicked leader of this. agency. >> Yeah, I'm glad you asked this question. because the fact is the US Postal. Service is not a government agency. I mean, the Board of Governors of the of. the USPS, they could just tell Donald. Trump no. >> Right. >> Like they don't have to abide by this. Like this is not this is not like, you. know, unitary executive where you're. talking about an agency that is under. the direct control of the president.

This has the US Postal Service has some. governmental. um uh. functions or or or or features, uh but. but it does but it is not a traditional. government agency. And so, I've been. quite critical of the governor the Board. of Governors for for going along with. this, and I don't think they should. Uh. and uh you know, that is yet another. place in which the norms and the the the. the traditions of government uh are are. failing us. And, you know, I understand.

the Board of Governors, you know, even. the folks there who are sympathetic, and. there are some who are sympathetic uh. to, you know, standing up against the. Trump administration. They're worried. that, you know, Congress will withhold. the fund some funding that they do. receive, that they'll they'll be regu-. they'll they'll the Congress will pass. laws that will target them, they'll. close post offices. I mean, I understand. the the risks here. But, I mean, democracy is at stake, and this is a. terrible, terrible thing for voting.

rights. So, I'm still hoping that maybe. the Board of Governors won't approve. these final rules. But, so far they they. appear to be going along with what. Donald Trump wants. >> Going back to the spate of different. lawsuits, you said it was kind of like a. soup of different lawsuits. Is there. anything to read from the tea leaves. here in terms of where you expect the. courts to land? Obviously, we had a. district court that was willing to block. this effort by Trump to be able to. dictate what the Postal Service does. At.

the same time, we have an appellate. panel that was willing to block that. lower court decision. So, we do have. kind of mixed reviews here, but is there. anything to suggest how the courts might. ultimately rule on this? >> Yeah, so look, I I think the DC Circuit. got this wrong. But, just to be clear, what they basically said was that the. prior settlement agreement from 2020. didn't cover this. Now, they I again, I. think they're wrong about that. I think. that they at a minimum should have left. it in place pending appeal. This was.

another instance in which they. essentially deferred to the government. while this case percolates up, and we've. seen that happen before and the. disastrous effect it has on democracy. So, but that's one angle. The arguments. that the attorneys general took in the. Massachusetts case is separate, right? They're they're saying, "We are states. We are injured by this, and this is not. a power that the president has." It's. you know, it's basically, "We're the. states. We get to run elections, and the.

president can't do this through the. Postal Service." And a federal district. court judge in Massachusetts agreed with. that. That case will be appealed up. through the first circuit, which is. actually a pretty liberal circuit. So, I. am optimistic that that that case will. survive for the time being. And then you. have the other DC Circuit case, which is. a case that my law firm and I filed on. behalf of the Democratic Party, in which. we have said, "Look, we're the. Democratic Party, and our campaigns are. injured by this. And we think that this.

this, you know, injures us, and and. needs to be blocked nationwide. uh uh we have Democratic candidates. everywhere. That case, we did not. prevail at the trial court on standing. grounds. I think that was wrong. And. we'll see whether the DC Circuit panel. we have in that case says we do have. standing, at which point it could be. blocked nationwide. So, you kind of have. these three different cases going on. simultaneously. If any one of them succeeds, then that's. good enough for 2026. Also, as I.

mentioned, there is a rule-making. process that needs to happen in order to. implement this guy this this executive. order. And I'm hoping the Postal Service. won't agree with that, although I'm not. confident that they won't. Uh but if. they do, I suspect there'll be more. litigation then on that question of. whether the Postal Service's rule to. implement this uh violates the. Constitution or the Administrative. Procedure Act or some other aspect of. federal law. >> You said good enough for 2026, but even.

if Trump is successful here, it is July. of an election year. I mean, we've spent. a lot of time talking about the Purcell. doctrine, this idea that you can't make. changes too close to an election. They. have to uh be held over basically until. the subsequent election so that you. don't cause chaos. You don't inject. chaos into an ongoing election, which. would uh impact people's ability to be. able to cast their ballots. Nothing. would be it would be a larger. disturbance of people's ability to cast. their ballots than upending the entire.

system by which people actually cast. those ballots. in in the summer before the fall's. election. And so, even if these courts. say that Trump has the ability uh to. allow him to interfere with the USPS in. this way, how does Purcell not kick in, considering ballots are already being. printed? >> Yeah, you know, Brian, this is where I'm. going to quote Brian Tyler Cohen back to. Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I know what you're going to. >> This is Purcell for thee, but not for.

me, right? I mean, you're exactly right. Like, this is one of these places where. if we were trying to change something. about the Postal Service's handling of. ballots, and let's assume it was 8. months ago, the government would be. running into court and saying, "It's too. late. Don't you know how complicated the. US mail is? Don't you understand that. all of these pieces are connected? And. even though elections are not for. another year, it's too late for 2026.". You know that that argument would be. made because in fact in other areas.

where we had victories, they they. immediately invoked Purcell. And so, how. is it, as you point out, that we are now. at functionally the end of July of an. election year? We are 100 days from the. election, and and the Postal Service and. the Trump administration is like, "Ah, what's the big deal if we change the. rules of how who can get mail-in ballots. and won't, and by the way, what ballot. envelopes have to be used, what lists.

have to be created? I mean, it's an. entire new regime that that that is, you. know, would upend uh voting by mail all. around the country. And yet, Brian, Purcell for thee, but not for me. >> Yep. I I should have I should have known. it even before the the question left my. lips. Well, look, um for again, for. those who are looking to support the. invaluable work that Mark is doing with. his team in the courts, especially on. this particular issue, to prevent the. Trump administration from being able to.

wield our own Postal Service as a cudgel. against any voters who have a proclivity. to vote for Democrats, a small step we. can all take to support his work, elevate his voice in this ecosystem, and. frankly, get good news, good information. out there, is to subscribe to Democracy. Docket. So, I'm going to put that link. right here on the screen. I'm also going. to put the link to this channel on the. screen, so you can hear more episodes of. Democracy Watch between myself and Mark. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.