Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan has ruled largely in favor of concerned officials in a lawsuit over actions taken at the Postal Service in the lead-up to the 2020 election under the leadership of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
DeJoy is a relic of the Trump era, although he wasn’t directly appointed by the now former president. The selection of the head of the Postal Service is the responsibility of the board of governors overseeing the agency. In this case, Sullivan outlined that evidence showed restrictions on postal workers making extra trips contributed more than other factors to large declines in on-time delivery rates in 2020. These declines led to concerns about how effectively the Postal Service would handle mail-in ballots amid an election with usage of mail-in balloting going up by significant amounts because of COVID-19.
As summarized by CNN, Sullivan formally tied DeJoy’s policy changes to negative impacts on mail delivery, and he “put in place orders to prevent DeJoy from doing the same again.” “The evidence demonstrates that [the states and localities] suffered harm by impeding their ability to combat the spread [of] COVID-19, impeding their ability to provide safe alternatives to in-person voting,” and imposing unnecessary expenses and administrative work, Sullivan said. The disputed policy changes include restrictions on extra trips that would constitute overtime and a decrease in the agency’s active mail sorting machines. The judge’s action would evidently at least cover DeJoy imposing measures similar to his overtime restrictions without prior approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission, which is what took place in 2020. Officials who challenged DeJoy outlined concerns that the agency’s actions impeded their abilities to go after COVID-19, because of difficulties with mail-in voting due to slow delivery times potentially forcing people into in-person polling places.
Sullivan outlined that DeJoy wouldn’t be permitted to restrict extra delivery trips without the regulatory commission’s approval. “Although the simultaneous implementation of multiple policy changes in June and July 2020 contributed to the decline in mail service and the overall confusion by postal workers, the record evidence demonstrates that changes to and impacts on the USPS transportation schedule regarding late and extra trips were the primary factor in affecting service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis,” the judge further noted. The agency itself said they were “studying the opinion to determine our appropriate next steps.” Meanwhile, DeJoy has also faced scrutiny for — among other issues — his initial reliance on almost entirely gas-powered replacements for the Postal Service delivery vehicle fleet. After concerns were expressed by interests in Congress and the Biden administration alongside those outside of government, plans changed, and the agency moved to make some 40 percent of its new fleet electric instead of 10 percent.
