For the second time in recent memory, a federal judge has intervened to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from restricting how election mail is handled, placing the judiciary once again at the crossroads of democratic access and institutional authority. The ruling reflects a deeper, unresolved tension in American civic life: who holds the power to shape the conditions under which citizens exercise their most fundamental right. Courts have repeatedly answered that question by siding with the voters, even as the underlying dispute remains unsettled by law or negotiation.