Attorney General Bonta Responds to U.S. Supreme Court Decision Allowing President Trump’s Second Elections-Related Executive Order to Be Implemented

OAKLAND - Co-leading a coalition of 23 attorneys general and the Governor of Pennsylvania, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today responded to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision granting the Trump Administration's emergency request to stay an injunction that blocked key provisions of President Trump's second elections-related Executive Order, Executive Order No. 14399 for the midterm elections this year. The decision stays the June 2026 order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts that had blocked those provisions in the plaintiff states for the 2026 midterm elections. The U.S. Supreme Court did not rule on whether the Executive Order is lawful. Instead, it found that the coalition's challenge was premature because, when the lawsuit was filed, the Administration had not taken the actions needed to implement it. The coalition intends to challenge those actions as they occur and as necessary to protect states' administration of elections.

"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 Attorney General Bonta. "As I have said from the beginning, the U.S. Constitution gives the President no authority over how states administer their elections. We will continue to use every legal tool at our disposal to fight back against unlawful federal overreach whenever it occurs."

The June 2026 order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts had blocked a provision that would have required the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to issue regulations prohibiting the mailing of ballots for voters who are not included on new USPS lists of "enrolled" mail voters. The order also blocked provisions directing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create voter eligibility lists for each state - lists the government itself concedes would be incomplete - and threatening state election officials with prosecution for providing ballots to voters that the federal government deems ineligible.

The Trump Administration appealed the district court's ruling, arguing that the plaintiff states' suit was premature, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit declined to pause it. The Trump Administration then asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay to temporarily block the lower court ruling while its appeal moved forward. On August 3, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition filed a response urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the request. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the emergency stay, which could allow the challenged provisions to take effect while the appeal proceeds.

The case began in April 2026, when Attorney General Bonta, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown co-led the coalition in challenging Executive Order No. 14399. Joining them were the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.