By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General,
Letitia James on Tuesday led
a coalition of states and cities
from across the country in filing
a lawsuit to stop the Trump
administration’s attempts to dismantle
the United States Postal
Service (USPS) and disrupt
operations in an effort to undermine
the November Presidential
Election.
The suit — filed against President
Donald Trump, the USP
and Postmaster General Louis
DeJoy — came a day after the
postmaster general finished testifying
before Congress in which
he refused to reverse policies
that have slowed mail operations
across the nation.
In recent weeks, James said
the USPS — under DeJoy’s
directives — has begun to scale
back operations “that would significantly
undermine the USPS’s
ability to handle what is expected
to be a record number of mail-in
ballots this November because
of the coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) pandemic.
“The slowdown is already
having life-threatening impacts
on veterans and seniors who are
not receiving medication and
economic impacts on individuals
waiting for their pensions
and paychecks,” she said. “This
USPS slowdown is nothing more
than a voter suppression tactic.
“Yet, this time, these authoritarian
actions are not only jeopardizing
our democracy and fundamental
Caribbean Life, A 8 ug. 28-Sept. 3, 2020
right to vote but the
immediate health and financial
well-being of Americans across
the nation,” James said. “We will
do everything in our power to
stop the president’s power grab
and ensure every eligible voter
has the opportunity to cast a
ballot come November.”
The New York Attorney General
said the US federal mail system
has been “a critical part of
American infrastructure since
before the United States declared
its independence.”
For more than 200 years,
she said the federal postal service
has provided “reliable, vital
services to millions of Americans,
and, for the last 50 years,
the USPS has acted as an independent
agency — severed from
the president’s cabinet — in an
effort to ensure its political independence.”
But, earlier this year — in the
middle of the COVID-19 pandemic
— a new postmaster general
was appointed, who immediately
led efforts to begin an
“operational pivot” to overhaul
how the USPS collects, processes,
and delivers mail throughout
the country.
In Tuesday’s lawsuit — filed in
the US District Court for the District
of Columbia — James leads
the coalition of three states and
two cities in arguing that significant
and recent changes to
USPS operations under DeJoy’s
leadership have “substantially
delayed USPS mail in New York
and across the country.”
The coalition said these
include removing mailboxes
and mail sorting machines, curtailing
overtime for USPS staff,
prohibiting late and extra trips
that ensure mail is delivered on
a timely and consistent basis,
institutionalizing other policies
that cause further delays and
creating confusion regarding
what election mail standards the
USPS will follow in advance of
New York Attorney General Letitia James. Associated Press /
Richard Drew
the November general elections.
The suit further alleges that
changes in USPS operations are
in line with Trump’s “repeated
and public statements in opposition
to mail-in voting and his
intent to impair the delivery of
mailed ballots by cutting off the
resources needed for the USPS
to operate because mailed ballots
would specifically harm
Republicans’ abilities to win
elections, even going so far as to
make clear last month in a tweet
that ‘Republicans, in particular,
cannot let this happen.’”
AGs sue Trump for undermining
Postal Service, Presidential Elections
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