California to sue over Trump mail-in voting order following SCOTUS ruling

California will sue the Trump administration yet again, this time over an Executive Order regarding mail-in voting. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for the restrictive order to potentially go into effect before the November midterm election.

In a 6-3 decision, the Court did not rule on the legality of Trump’s order, but still cleared the way for the administration to begin implementing harsh restrictions on mail-in ballots just a few months before the country votes in the midterms. California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly announced the state would be suing the Trump administration following the decision.

“The Supreme Court just let the Trump administration move ahead (for now) with its plan to disenfranchise voters across the country,” Newsom said in a statement. “California will be suing AGAIN to block these Orwellian rules from being implemented.”

California is co-leading a coalition of 24 states in the lawsuit; the initial injunction against the Executive Order was a result of another lawsuit earlier this year, which California was also involved in.

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for the Trump Administration to try to make it harder for Americans to vote. But today’s decision was not a ruling on the merits, and this fight is far from over,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement.

Trump signed the order in March, signaling his administration to create its own lists of all eligible voters in the country, and allow the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deliver mail-in ballots only to those voters.

The portion of the order dealing with USPS is still blocked due to another injunction, while the voter database will be able to move ahead.

“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is a loser who can’t handle the fact that he was defeated in the 2020 election,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D- Calif.) “He’s attacking vote by mail because he's afraid of losing the midterms, and because he wants to push conspiracy theories and bogus claims … We will not allow Donald Trump to use the Postal Service to interfere in our elections or make it harder for Americans to exercise their right to vote.”

Newsom and the State Legislature have been preparing for this year’s election with an “election protection” legislative package including bills that would make it a felony to seize ballots before elections are certified or interfere with the delivery and return of both regular and mail-in ballots.

The Legislature also recently passed Sen. Sabrina Cervantes’ (D-Riverside) California Voting Rights Act of 2026, a two-bill package that expands the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 and adds additional safeguards against voter suppression.