World & Nation
· collected 2026-08-25 · by David G. Savage, Kevin Rector
Supreme Court for now allows Trump to plan new mail ballot rules.
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Trump → allow → rules
California to sue again
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California → sue → ?
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Click here to listen to this article -
- California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said his office expects to sue again within days.
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office → click → days
About 30% of the nation’s voters — and 80% of Californians — cast their ballots by mail in 2024.
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% → cast → 2024
The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for President Trump to continue seeking new limits on the use of mail ballots, though their implementation remains in dispute as the November election rapidly approaches.
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election → clear → dispute
California leaders immediately noted the limits of the high court ruling and said they would file a lawsuit to prevent Trump’s desired changes from taking effect.
“The Supreme Court just let the Trump administration move ahead (for now) with its plan to disenfranchise voters across the country.
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administration → note → country
California will be suing AGAIN to block these Orwellian rules from being implemented,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
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Newsom → sue → statement
Acting by a 6-3 vote, the court’s conservatives granted an emergency appeal from Trump’s lawyers and set aside a lower judge’s order that blocked federal agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Service — from advancing new federal regulations on states and their use of mail ballots.
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that → act → ballots
Trump called for those regulations in a March executive order directing Homeland Security to compile its own lists of eligible citizen voters in each state and the Postal Service to restrict its processing of mail ballots to those submitted by individuals on those Homeland Security lists.
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Service → call → lists
The high court’s ruling allows those agencies to move forward with their work to comply with Trump’s order, but reaches no conclusions as to the legality of those pending rules.
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agencies → allow → rules
Across California and the nation, Democratic leaders and voting rights advocates are ramping up coordination and gaming out responses to a raft of potential actions by the Trump administration to subvert the November vote or deny its outcome.
“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful.
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measure → ramp → Order
On that score, time will tell,” the high court wrote.
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court → tell → score
The unsigned order spoke for the six Republican appointees.
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order → speak → appointees
The three liberals, all Democratic appointees, dissented in two separate opinions.
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liberals → dissent → opinions
Lauren Bis, a White House spokeswoman, called the ruling a “major win for the security of American elections” in a statement to The Times.
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Bis → call → Times
“These are commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans are electing American leaders,” Bis said.
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Bis → protect → leaders
“This Administration will continue to lawfully enact the agenda President Trump was elected on — which includes the safety and security of our elections.”
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which → continue → elections
California officials stressed that the court’s ruling does not allow final implementation of the rules requested by Trump.
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ruling → stress → Trump
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who helped lead the coalition of states challenging Trump’s order, called the ruling “somewhat disappointing” but “purely procedural” and far from the final word on the issue.
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who → lead → issue
“It doesn’t address the merits.
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It → address → merits
And we think that when the merits are addressed — and we will bring a lawsuit to address the merits of this case — that we will prevail, because the president has zero authority to determine the time, place and manner of elections, and he is through an executive order trying to exert a very significant amount of authority,” Bonta said.
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Bonta → think → authority
He said the court found the state’s lawsuit was not “ripe” to bring because there was no final Postal Service rule in place implementing new controls on mail ballots.
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lawsuit → say → ballots
He said the Postal Service issued a final rule Friday — and “now that the final rule’s in place, we’ll sue, and we’ll start from the beginning.”
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we → say → beginning
The 95-page new rule implements parts of Trump’s executive order by requiring a new design for mail ballots and the envelopes they go in, as well as procedures for how data are collected from them by the federal government.
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data → implement → government
Bonta said his office expects to sue again within days.
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office → say → days
He expects a lower court will block the Trump-ordered changes again, and for that ruling to stand through November.
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ruling → expect → November
He said if the high court does weigh in again before the midterms, he expects it to acknowledge that the president has no authority to dictate election policy.
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president → say → policy
Dean Logan, registrar-recorder and county clerk for Los Angeles County, also said the issue is far from settled.
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issue → say → County
“As we approach the issuance of the first ballots for the November General Election, it is important to recognize that these regulations are still subject to active litigation and interpretation,” Logan said in a statement to The Times.
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Logan → approach → Times
“In response, we will intensify our voter outreach and educational initiatives to ensure individuals are fully informed and aware of any adjustments to the voting process.”
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individuals → intensify → process
The Supreme Court found in part that the lower court order blocking the agencies from working toward Trump’s order was invalid because that work had yet to cause any harm to the states that sued, including California.
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that → find → California
It wrote that Trump’s executive order “is internal directive from the President to his subordinates mandating that certain agencies pursue certain policies.
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agencies → write → policies
It neither requires nor forbids anything of anyone outside the Executive Branch.”
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It → require → Branch
About 30% of the nation’s voters — and 80% of Californians — cast their ballots by mail in 2024.
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% → cast → 2024
Trump, however, has long maintained that voting by mail leads to fraud, including voting by noncitizens.
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voting → maintain → noncitizens
With the court’s ruling Monday, Homeland Security may compile state-by-state lists of citizens who are 18 and over and eligible to vote.
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who → compile → citizens
However, California and other states “are not required to use the Lists,” the court said.
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court → require → Lists
The Trump administration has acknowledged potential law enforcement applications for the lists and warned state election officials across the country that they could face legal consequences if they don’t work to ensure that noncitizens aren’t able to vote in their elections.
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noncitizens → acknowledge → elections
President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday purporting to place new federal controls on voting by mail in states such as California.
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Trump → sign → California
Such warnings from the administration were mentioned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent as evidence of the harm suffered by the states already, and reason for the lower court’s ruling halting implementation to hold.
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ruling → mention → implementation
…and 14 more, not listed.
