Judge Grants Expedited Discovery In Postal Service Suit

Press release from the Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut: A federal judge in Washington has granted a multi-state motion for expedited discovery, giving the Trump administration 10 days to produce records in the challenge seeking to block and reverse drastic operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service.

Earlier this month, Connecticut joined a coalition of states across the country led by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson suing the Trump Administration over its efforts to undermine the Postal Service ahead of the November election.

“Our case is moving fast to protect the November election and ensure that all Americans can vote with confidence and know their ballots will be counted. We have seen so much disturbing evidence on the ground—the junked mail sorter I saw myself in Hartford, seniors missing prescriptions, ballots delayed until after the primary. We have heard forcefully from postal service workers themselves denied routine overtime, forced to sort mail by hand, and sent to deliver mail in half-filled trucks. That is why the judge saw the urgency of our case, and ordered the postal service to turn over their records right away. We need to know who ordered these unacceptable changes and what exactly was done so we can fully restore operations and hold accountable anyone who may have interfered with the mail for political gain,” said Attorney General William Tong.

During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Stanley A. Bastian, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington said: “This case is unlike any other case this court has been involved in. Time is of the essence and because of this, there is good cause for expedited discovery. …We don’t have much time between now and the election. I think everyone on this call wants their vote to be counted. I think everybody in this country is relying on the Postal Service to do their job. So I hope at some point we will be hearing from the Postal Service not a bunch of procedural arguments or jurisdictional arguments, but some assurance to the American public that the Postal Service is up to the challenge of delivering ballots to the voters and back to the states so they can be appropriately counted.”

This press release was produced by Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut. The views expressed here are the author's own.