By Jeannie O'Sullivan

Law360 (May 27, 2021, 5:05 PM EDT) -- The state of New York slammed the U.S. Postal Service's bid to scale back its operations amid litigation seeking to ward off delivery delays ahead of the 2020 election, telling a District of Columbia federal court that the agency already defied orders to restore service levels.

The USPS "did nothing" in response to the federal court's injunction enjoining Trump-era postal service policy changes like the elimination of extra and late-night trips, New York argued in a Wednesday brief. The state is opposing the USPS' bid to clarify the injunction to allow the agency to decline extra and late-night trips in limited circumstances.

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy unveiled the operational changes in July, sparking legal pushback from New York and other states and jurisdictions that have sued alongside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and disenfranchised primary voters.

"Despite the preliminary injunctions the court issued in this case and related cases, multiple motions to enforce, and near-daily hearings leading up to and following the 2020 presidential election, extra trips have still not returned to their pre-July 2020 levels," the state wrote in a brief opposing the USPS' clarification bid and seeking to enforce the injunction.

New York pointed to figures showing that as of April, the USPS was averaging 845 extra trips per day. That amounted to 63% below the pre-July 2020 levels and lower than any single day prior to that, the state said.

In its May 12 motion to clarify the order, the USPS sought permission to deny extra trips for mail that's already running late and those to avoid a delay that would impact less than 15% of a mail truck's capacity.

The agency said in its motion that it "has made clear that such trips are permitted and should be used when appropriate" and that it was only seeking "limited changes" to the order. The agency described the "complicated transportation network" it manages, noting that the system utilizes "thousands" of unscheduled trips weekly.

However, New York countered that the agency doesn't "specify how many trips could be denied under this new regime, much less how much mail constitutes 15 percent of a truck's capacity. Nor do defendants explain how this new regime accounts for election mail, which, if delayed, could disrupt state and local election plans and result in voter disenfranchisement."

New York — which is joined in its suit by Hawaii, New Jersey, New York City and San Francisco — said in its August complaint that the end of the extra trips and other policy changes such as removing mail-sorting equipment and eliminating overtime have slowed delivery and threaten to leave mail-in ballots uncounted. The complaint targeted then-President Donald Trump in his official capacity.

In its brief Wednesday, New York said Americans rely on the USPS for "to access basic necessities" and that its pared-back services have resulted in "devastating consequences to the public."

The Trump administration claimed in September that the delays were due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A spokesperson for the Office of the New York State Attorney General declined to comment.

Counsel for the defendants didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

New York is represented by Attorney General Letitia James, senior counsel Michael J. Myers and Assistant Attorneys General Daniela L. Nogueira, Lindsay McKenzie and Laura Mirman-Heslin.

The defendants are represented by Joseph E. Borson, Kuntal Cholera and John Robinson of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division.

The suit is New York v. Donald Trump et al., case number 1:20-cv-02340, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Update: This article has been updated to indicate the Office of the New York State Attorney General declined to comment.

--Additional reporting by Hailey Konnath. Editing by Steven Edelstone.

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