State of California v. Trump

Case Overview

This is the appeal in the multistate challenge to Executive Order 14399, "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections" (91 Fed. Reg. 17125, Mar. 31, 2026). In the district court (D. Mass., Judge Indira Talwani), a coalition of 24 states and the Governor of Pennsylvania won summary judgment and an injunction blocking the EO's federal-election provisions for the November 2026 elections. The federal defendants (President Trump, DOJ, DHS, the Social Security Administration, and Postal Service officials) appealed and asked the First Circuit to stay the injunction while the appeal proceeds. On July 25, 2026, the panel denied the stay, so the injunction stays in force during the appeal. Judge Dunlap concurred in part and dissented in part, concluding the plaintiff states likely lack standing to challenge some parts of the EO and that he would have stayed the injunction as to Section 2(a) and part of Section 2(b).