Third judge orders USPS to halt delivery cuts before November's election

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Sunday ruled in favor of several states and ordered the U.S. Postal Service to halt operational changes before November's presidential election.

Why it matters: U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan's preliminary injunction in the case filed by the states of New York, Hawaii and New Jersey, along with the cities of New York and San Francisco, is the third ruling against the USPS and the Trump administration on the matter that's been blamed for nationwide mail delivery delays.

Driving the news: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in August he would halt planned USPS changes until after the election to "avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail," following widespread delivery delays and backlogs, but some changes "remained in place" after his pledge, per AP.

What they're saying: "It is clearly in the public interest to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, to ensure safe alternatives to in-person voting, and to require that the USPS comply with the law," wrote Sullivan, who is overseeing several related suits, in an opinion obtained by the Washington Post.

• USPS spokesperson Dave Partenheimer said after the first judge's ruling, "While we are exploring our legal options, there should be no doubt that the Postal Service is ready and committed to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives."
• Lee Moak, a Democratic appointee to the USPS board of governors and election mail committee chair, added: "Any suggestion that there is a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service is completely and utterly without merit."

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal posted two pages of the order to Twitter: