A federal judge has agreed to halt President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to have the U.S. Postal Service play a central role in deciding who can receive a mail ballot. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani on Tuesday sided with the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups that challenged the Republican president’s order and granted a preliminary injunction. Her ruling bars the Postal Service from taking any action to implement the order ahead of this year's midterm elections. Separate plaintiffs had argued in two lawsuits that the order should be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules.

Two drivers of Mercedes AMG cars have filed a class action lawsuit against the luxury car company, saying that the AMG logo on their driver’s seat gets so hot that it literally brands them and causes burns. A court document filed earlier this week in California say plaintiffs Gabriel Lahijani and Karendeep “Karina” Bath allege the front seats of certain Mercedes AMG vehicles have a design defect where the raised metallic AMG logo can be expected to touch a person's upper back, neck, or shoulder. The plaintiffs want Mercedes to compensate them for medical and other costs. Mercedes-Benz couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana says he’ll vote for Todd Blanche as attorney general, likely paving the way for Blanche to be confirmed to lead President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. Cassidy announced his support Friday on the Senate floor, saying Blanche isn’t perfect but no one is. Blanche’s confirmation had been thrown into doubt over opposition from two other Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Blanche’s path to confirmation has been complicated over a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service that has drawn intense scrutiny by Republicans and Democrats alike.

The Trump administration is moving ahead with its efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, two months after the Supreme Court allowed her to retain her job while she fights the president’s effort to terminate her over mortgage fraud allegations that she has denied. The justices, in a 5-4 decision in June, said Cook, who was nominated to the Fed’s Board of Governors by President Joe Biden, could remain in her post at least as long as her lawsuit challenging her firing goes on. The Trump administration is appealing a lower-court ruling in Cook's favor. A letter this week from the White House to Cook said President Donald Trump was “considering” firing Cook but wanted to give her an opportunity to challenge the effort.

NCAA Division II will move to the age-based eligibility model that has prompted athlete lawsuits across the country since it was adopted in Division I. The Division II executive board voted to have athletes’ eligibility begin upon initial full-time enrollment or the regular academic year immediately following the athlete’s 19th birthday, whichever occurs earlier. Athletes will be allowed five seasons of competition over five years. Division II athletes previously were allowed four seasons of competition to be completed within their first 10 semesters or 15 quarters of full-time enrollment.

The state of New Mexico has sued the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, saying the federal government has blocked it from carrying out its own investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The lawsuit said the Justice Department and Blanche had actively harmed victims and undermined public interest by withholding information from state investigators. It said New Mexico was one of the few jurisdictions that could still bring criminal charges related to Epstein's crimes. The Justice Department said it was withholding some information from New Mexico to protect victims' privacy and conform with court rulings about evidence.

Lawyers for former Tennessee basketball player Zakai Zeigler have filed an amended lawsuit over his eligibility. The new complaint uses the NCAA’s recent sweeping changes to its eligibility rules to bolster Zeigler's case challenging the previous policy of limiting athletes to four seasons in five years. The amended lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Tennessee’s Eastern District cites the new age-based eligibility rules that the NCAA adopted in June. For years, the NCAA allowed athletes five years to complete four years of competition. Zeigler challenged that rule but ultimately dropped his bid to play a fifth season of basketball.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has cleared a critical hurdle in his bid to be confirmed to the post after swaying Republican holdouts on a Senate committee to advance his nomination for a floor vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines Tuesday in support of the nomination of President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney. Blanche has aggressively pushed the Trump administration’s priorities since taking the reins from Pam Bondi in April. The full Senate could vote later this week on Blanche’s nomination. If all Democrats oppose him, Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes if Sen. Mitch McConnell, who was hospitalized after a fall, does not return before then.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration improperly ended a multi-billion-dollar program for clean energy projects. This decision supports a lower court's ruling that nonprofits chosen to run the Biden-era effort should have access the funds. The ruling is temporarily on hold, allowing the Environmental Protection Agency time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, known as a "green bank," was designed to finance small energy projects. The Trump administration accused the nonprofits of mismanagement and fraud, freezing the funds. The groups denied wrongdoing and sued, claiming legal violations.