Judge blocks Trump order that would have let USPS refuse to deliver mail ballots

[Bluetus]

18. On many levels. But the most basic issue is very important.

Last edited Fri Jun 26, 2026, 03:20 PM - Edit history (1)

The media keeps reporting trump's EOs as if they had some legal weight. In most case, they have no more weight then something scribbled on toilet paper.

An EO is nothing more than an instruction from the head of the Exec Branch (that's the president) to EMPLOYEES of the executive branch. An EO cannot tell anybody else what to do. Not private citizens. Not Congress. Not states. Not the courts. EOs only apply to people directly employed in the Executive Branch.

And in this case, USPS isn't even a government agency, let alone being in the Executive Branch. USPS receives some funding from Congress, but it has no relationship at all to the Executive Branch, other than that Treasury is required to send the money that Congress appropriates.

We really need to be much more clear about what EOs are and what they are not.