A federal judge on Monday denied requests from the Trump administration and Republican-led states to lift a temporary block on key parts of a U.S. Postal Service rule implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order intended to secure…
Page A3From§Eachthe late evening edition — 31 August 2026
Judge delays abortion pill suit until after midterms; Trump wants FDA nominee confirmed before them.
As it ran on the front
I wrote this down. Hold on, let me find it — here. 'Federal judge delays a mifepristone lawsuit until after midterms.' And two pages later, my own handwriting, worse than usual: 'Trump tells Senate to confirm his FDA nominee before midterm elections.' Same word both times. Midterms. I keep circling it in the margin, like it's going to explain itself if I stare long enough.
You know how an egg timer works. You turn it over, the sand runs one way, nobody argues with the sand — it doesn't care what's riding on it. I've got one in my kitchen, the little glass kind. Now imagine two of them, same government office setting both, and one gets turned so the sand runs long, past November, and the other gets turned so the sand runs short, before November. That's not the sand doing that. Sand doesn't have a preference. Somebody's got a thumb on the glass.…
…(cont) Third page — almost missed it, stuck to the back of the second one — a judge denying the same administration's request to lift a block on its own mail-ballot order. So the outfit that wants its FDA man seated before anybody votes is also the outfit that just lost, again, trying to change how people are allowed to vote in the first place. Three timers. Three different settings. Same hand on the glass each time.
I'm not accusing anybody of anything. I'm just a guy with a notebook and handwriting my own wife can't read. Maybe there's a perfectly innocent reason a drug lawsuit needs until after an election to get decided, but a nominee needs to get seated before one. Maybe the mail-ballot fight is a coincidence of timing too. I don't know. I'm slow, my wife says so.
But before you go — one more thing's been bothering me, and then I'll let you get home. If the calendar really was the only thing driving all three of these, wouldn't you expect the rush and the delay to land on the same side of Election Day at least once, just for variety? Just to prove it wasn't a thumb?
That's it. That's all I've got tonight. Go on home, get some sleep. I'll be here with the notebook if anything else turns up.
“Same government, three clocks: slow-walk the abortion pill case past the vote, fast-track the FDA guy ahead of it, and lose the mail-ballot fight somewhere in between. That's not bureaucracy, that's scheduling. Ask yourself who set the alarm and who it's set to wake up.”
“Look, every administration manages its own docket, that's just normal case scheduling, judges set their own calendars, we don't control federal judges. And the FDA nominee, that's just routine Senate business, nothing to do with timing — I mean, obviously it's timed, but not in a bad way. The mail-ballot thing's still in litigation so no comment, which I guess is also a comment on the timing. Did I say that? That doesn't sound like me.”
The receipts
President Donald Trump said Monday that he wants the Senate to prioritize confirming Dr. Heidi Overton, his nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, before the 2026 midterm elections, in which Republicans are defending a slim…
A federal judge on Sunday paused a lawsuit seeking to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone until after the midterm elections. Judge Reed O’Connor, of the U.S. District Court for the…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.