The Supreme Court granted an emergency stay that lets parts of the Trump administration’s mail‑ballot directives move forward for now. California’s governor announced litigation and a legislative package creating new criminal penalties and funding to protect vote‑by‑mail and election administration.
Critics pointed to ongoing DOJ scrutiny of the governor and raised concerns about mail handling after a separate federal stolen‑checks case was cited as evidence of postal vulnerabilities.
Governor Gavin Newsom reacted by announcing that California will sue to block implementation of the federal measures. At the same time, the governor and state legislators produced a legislative package intended to criminalize certain forms of election interference and to shore up state election operations.
The bills are described as building on recent incidents and threats to election administration and are framed as creating stronger legal protections for lawful votes in California.
Newsom's final budget already included specific new investments in elections:
California and a group of other states have lost one skirmish with the Trump administration on the Supreme Court's shadow docket regarding ballots by mail, with the court essentially saying the states can't sue because they haven't been harmed yet.
California officials stressed that the court's ruling does not allow final implementation of the new rules requested by Trump.
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to move ahead with his executive order restricting mail-in voting.
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