California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from 23 other states said they will continue to challenge provisions of a Trump administration executive order affecting election administration after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the order to move forward while their lawsuit proceeds.
On Aug. 3, the Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of a June 2026 lower court decision that had blocked key provisions of Executive Order No. 14399 in the plaintiff states for the 2026 midterm elections. The high court did not rule on whether the order is lawful, instead finding that the challenge was premature because the administration had not yet taken actions needed to implement it.
The blocked provisions would have required the U.S. Postal Service to prohibit mailing ballots to voters not on new "enrolled" mail voter lists. The order also directed the Department of Homeland Security to create voter eligibility lists for each state and threatened state election officials with prosecution for providing ballots to voters deemed ineligible by the federal government.
According to the lower court, the federal eligibility lists would be incomplete. "Today, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for the Trump Administration to try to make it harder for Americans to vote," Bonta said in response. "But today's decision was not a ruling on the merits, and this fight is far from over. As I have said from the beginning, the U.S. Constitution gives the President no authority over how states administer their elections."
The coalition originally filed the challenge in April 2026, co-led by Bonta, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and attorneys general from 19 additional states also joined the effort.
The states said they intend to challenge the order's provisions as they are implemented. The Supreme Court's emergency stay allows those provisions to potentially take effect while the appeal continues through the courts.