By Matt Fair

Law360 (September 28, 2020, 1:25 PM EDT) -- A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday became the latest to order the U.S. Postal Service to halt recent operational changes over concerns that it has delayed mail service and threatened to prevent the timely delivery of an expected deluge of mail-in ballots as part of the upcoming presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh said that challengers, including the attorneys general of Pennsylvania, Delaware and five other jurisdictions, had presented compelling evidence that recent operational changes at the USPS threatened to prevent the timely delivery of election-related mail.

"The Postal Service is a critical agency that preceded the birth of the nation itself, one of a few agencies that the Constitution explicitly authorized," the judge said. "Its ability to fulfill its mission during a presidential election taking place in the midst of a public health crisis is vital. The record in this case strongly supports the conclusion that irreparable harm will result unless its ability to operate is assured."

The judge agreed to adopt an injunction issued by a federal court in New York last week which ordered USPS to prioritize election mail delivery and to greenlight extra hours for postal workers to ensure delivery.

That order came following a similar injunction issued by a judge in Washington state in mid-September.

Monday's decision comes a day after a similar ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., who granted an injunction sought by several other jurisdictions including New York and New Jersey.

In that case, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said that the exigencies of the pandemic required USPS to do all that it could to facilitate the timely delivery of election-related mail.

"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," Judge Sullivan said.

The judge in the Pennsylvania case credited testimony from the challengers that operational changes that went into effect over the summer, including the removal of mail sorting machines and a reduction in overtime hours, had already resulted in state agencies seeing delays in the delivery of critical documents that had held up unemployment and other government proceedings.

The states said they'd continued to see delays even though Postmaster Louis DeJoy committed in August to the suspension of any further operations changes until after Election Day in order "to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail."

"Given the ongoing reductions in service standards, even after Postmaster DeJoy announced a halt of various changes, plaintiffs have shown it is more likely than not that they will continue to suffer these harms without a preliminary injunction," the judge said. "This resonates with particular concern as to election mail."

Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania praised the ruling in a statement Monday afternoon.

"This is a major victory and confirms — for every senior who has not received their timely shipment of prescription drugs and every voter who needs the reliable delivery of their mail-in ballots — that Postmaster General DeJoy was making false promises," he said. "The Postal Service cannot make random, negative changes that affect Pennsylvanians' daily lives, and the court is helping to ensure that everyone has full faith in the Postal Service at this critical time."

USPS spokesman David Partenheimer declined to comment on efforts to try and comply with the recent court orders, or about whether the postal service would challenge any of the rulings on appeal.

"Delivering election mail is our number one priority, and that we are 100% committed throughout the postal service to fulfilling our vital role in the nation's electoral process by securely and timely delivering all ballots pursuant to our long-established processes and procedures," he said in an email.

The challengers are represented by attorneys general Letitia James of New York; Clare Connors of Hawaii; Gurbir Grewal of New Jersey; Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania; Xavier Becerra of California; Kathleen Jennings of Delaware; Aaron Frey of Maine; Maura Healey of Massachusetts; Joshua Stein of North Carolina; and Karl Racine of the District of Columbia, and corporate counsel James Johnson of New York and City Attorney Dennis Herrera of the City and County of San Francisco.

The U.S., DeJoy and other defendants are represented by Kuntal V. Cholera of the U.S. Department of Justice and Eric D. Gill of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The case is Commonwealth of Pennsylvania et al. v. DeJoy et al., case number 2:20-cv-04096, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

--Additional reporting by Jeannie O'Sullivan. Editing by Alyssa Miller.

Update: This story has been updated with more details from the ruling and with comments from the USPS and Pennsylvania.

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