California Sues Again on Mail Ballots

California filed a new lawsuit over Trump's mail voting rules days after a Supreme Court loss.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 24 lifted one of two injunctions against President Donald Trump's executive order restricting mail voting, according to Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. The unsigned ruling, which cut along ideological lines, focused on whether the lower court's injunction was premature. The majority made clear it was not deciding on the legality of Trump's order as a whole. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, warning the ruling would create a "Kafkaesque nightmare" injecting chaos into the midterm elections.

Days after the Supreme Court ruling, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a new lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts on Wednesday, Shasta Scout reports. California is able to sue despite the high court's ruling because the U.S. Postal Service issued final rules late last week requiring states to turn over lists of eligible mail voters. Bonta called the Postal Service rules a "clear violation of the Constitution," arguing that states hold primary authority over election administration.

President Trump called the Supreme Court's emergency order on mail-in voting "a great ruling for the Republican Party" on Thursday, PBS reports. When asked about what the ruling means for states like North Carolina, where mail-in ballots are due to be sent out next week, Trump said the court "ruled on the legitimacy and the way we want to make them legitimate." Despite his longstanding criticism of mail-in voting, Trump has cast votes by mail several times in Florida elections.

According to Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, Trump's executive order would mandate the Department of Homeland Security to send each state a list of citizens over 18, and states using mail ballots would need to send the federal government a list of all registered voters receiving mail-in ballots. The Postal Service's final rule states it will decline to deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not provide that list. Shasta Scout reports that the order would also create new design standards and ballot-tracking requirements for mail ballots.

The Supreme Court's ruling will not be the final word on Trump's executive order, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reports, as the question before the court was narrow and focused on whether the lower court acted prematurely. States and voting rights groups are likely to challenge the Postal Service's final rules quickly. Shasta Scout notes that more than 89% of California voters used mail-in ballots in the June primary, underscoring the potential disruption if the rules take effect before November's midterm elections.

Rick Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA, wrote on the Election Law Blog that he expects the trial court to amend the second injunction and issue a new one blocking the Postal Service from implementing its final rule, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reports. Hasen predicted that too may end up at the Supreme Court within a week. A parallel case involving consolidated challenges brought by nonprofit groups and Democratic Party committees is also pending in federal court in Washington, D.C.