The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in Boston on Thursday, June 25, 2026, granted summary judgment to states challenging President Donald Trump’s March election order and blocked the disputed mail-voting and voter-list provisions for the 2026 midterm cycle. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani sided with the coalition of states that argued the president cannot set election rules by executive order in areas the Constitution and Congress assign elsewhere.

The ruling reaches only the provisions challenged in this case, not the whole order. It bars the administration from enforcing the sections that would have limited access to mail ballots and created a federal voter list for this year’s midterm election cycle unless a higher court changes the result.

Talwani’s decision is part of two related Boston lawsuits over Trump’s election directives. A separate case decided Wednesday dealt with another part of the order that sought proof of citizenship for voter registration. That case involved a different legal issue and a different remedy, but both lawsuits target the same broader effort to use executive power to reshape election administration.

The Boston rulings leave the administration with another setback in federal court and keep the challenged election provisions on hold while the litigation continues.