Second judge freezes Trump mail ballot plan

The Hill - A second federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing President Trump’s executive order targeting mail-in voting, adding a new obstacle to the president’s plan as he awaits word from the Supreme Court.

The high court was already considering an emergency request to lift another judge’s block — a decision could come any time — when U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled in separate challenges filed by Democrats and private organizations.

Nichols similarly found that Trump’s mail ballot plan wasn’t authorized by Congress.

“The key portions of the Rule exceed any conception of the outer bounds of these authorities,” the judge wrote in his 24-page opinion.  Nichols is a Trump appointee who serves on the federal trial bench in Washington, D.C.