Federal judge lifts all blocks on Trump mail-in ballots executive order
Yellow mail-in ballots sit in a U.S Postal Service truck while being delivered Oct. 8, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. (John Moore/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge who had blocked the most controversial aspect of President Trump’s executive order aimed at restricting mail-in ballots – namely, employing the Postal Service as the primary enforcer of mail-voter eligibility – has now lifted that decision following the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that legal challenges are premature.
The move means there are no longer legal holds on any aspect of Trump’s March 2026 mail-in ballot executive order and that the administration is free to move forward with its implementation without caveats.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talks to reporters after the House of Representatives passed a federal funding stopgap measure at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 1, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The House, in a bipartisan vote on Tuesday, passed a continuing resolution that funds the government through Dec. 11 — avoiding a shutdown ahead of the midterm elections in November.
The House acted in rare fashion with the vote — both by taking a bipartisan vote to avert a shutdown and doing so weeks ahead of the Oct. 1 deadline. Members of the House are up for reelection in the fall.
By a count of 370 to 48, the House cleared the measure — sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature. Just 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats opposed the measure, which initially passed the Senate on Aug. 8.
Following the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated its passage and thumbed his nose at those who questioned or openly doubted its prospects.
“House Republicans are in charge here, and we’re continuing to do the grown-up thing and make sure we get the job done. And we’re happy that we just passed that continuing resolution to fund the government through early December, and then we’ll continue through the process after the election,” Johnson said. “But there will be no government shutdown. You can thank Republicans for our leadership in getting that done.”
Late last year, there was a 43-day government shutdown — the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. At issue was an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which Democrats pushed for, but Trump and Republicans said they would not negotiate until the government reopened.
Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at Networth and Chill podcast at the Vox Media Podcast Stage at SXSW on March 15, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Vox Media)
(CALIFORNIA) — As he gears up for a possible presidential bid, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed a national “billionaires’ tax,” — a day after the state wealth tax measure he opposes qualified for the November ballot.
Newsom’s counter proposal calls for a federal minimum tax rate on Americans worth more than $100 million, rather than a state level one-time 5% wealth tax that the governor argues could be dodged by billionaires who could leave the state for another.
Newsom, who said earlier this month that he is “considering running for president,” said the country should return to pre-2017 corporate tax rates and close offshore loopholes that allow multinationals to shift profits and pay less in taxes. He also said inheritance rules need to be rewritten.
“Over the next twenty years, this country will live through the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history, with roughly $124 trillion changing hands. If we do not act, that transfer of wealth among the ultra-wealthy will lock in a permanent American aristocracy of inherited wealth,” Newsom wrote in a Substack post announcing the proposal on Friday morning.
The announcement comes a day after California’s own billionaire tax qualified for the November ballot, having collected more than double the signatures needed. The measure, a one-time 5% tax on billionaire wealth introduced by healthcare workers union SEIU-UHW, in response to steep healthcare funding cuts resulting from President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” has faced opposition from Newsom, California Democratic gubernatorial nominee Xavier Becerra and major lobbying organizations.
“We can’t let a single advocacy organization, however well-intentioned, write the state’s tax code on its own terms,” Newsom wrote, calling out the SEIU-UHW.
The measure has also led to heavy spending from billionaires, who oppose the tax. The nonprofit, Building a Better California, which supports committees promoting two competing ballot initiatives that would nullify the billionaire tax initiative, if passed, has raised more $118 million — and $80 million of that comes from Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Newsom says that he understands the “anxiety driving the wealth tax proposal in California,” but that he’s voting no on the California proposal, because he argues the measure dedicates almost all of the revenue to just state-funded healthcare services.
SEIU-UHW Vice President Debru Carthan said Thursday that the coalition supporting the tax would not back down.
“The billionaire tax will be on the November ballot,” said Carthan. “And we intend to win.”
About 250 billionaires would be taxed under the California measure, and the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says it’s likely that some billionaires would leave the state.
“You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom writes. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”
Dan Schnur, a political science professor at UC Berkeley, called Newsom’s tax proposal “savvy political positioning” as it helps him enter the 2028 field without being seen as an opponent to taxing the rich.
“He’s not against taxing billionaires, he just has a different way of doing it,” Schnur said. “He now has an answer for progressive Democrats, whether in California or in early primary states, as to why he didn’t support the ballot measure.”
In Washington, another 2028 contender, California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, joined Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — both of whom supported the California’s initiative — in introducing legislation that would establish an annual 5% wealth tax on billionaires nationwide.
Newsom is also proposing a national public equity fund, giving Americans a stake in economic gains generated by artificial intelligence companies. The fund — aimed at workers left behind by automation — would support universal child care, free higher education, career training and healthcare.
“Part of this fund could provide a real transition for the laid-off factory worker in Ohio or the 25-year-old coder in San Francisco who sent out a thousand resumes and got zero callbacks,” Newsom wrote. “This could include significant severance and portable benefits while we support them through the transition and into new jobs with programs like enhanced employment insurance.”
“As artificial intelligence reshapes the country, every American should own a piece of the future it builds,” Newsom wrote.
Other potential 2028 contenders are also beginning to stake out their positions on AI. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced legislation proposing a nationwide moratorium on AI data center construction, which would create a temporary prohibition on the construction and expansion of data centers until Congress passes legislation to address the economic, environmental and safety impacts of artificial intelligence.
Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the FY2027 budget request on Capitol Hill on May 12, 2026, in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The late Sen. Lindsey Graham will be honored later this month with separate services in Washington, D.C. and South Carolina, after the Republican died unexpectedly on July 11.
Graham’s office announced Friday that the senator’s life and legacy will be celebrated Tuesday, July 28 in Washington before separate services Wednesday, July 29 in South Carolina: Columbia, the state’s capital, and Pickens County, where Graham grew up and part of the district Graham represented.
While Graham’s office did not announce a location for the service in Washington, congressional sources told ABC News that the event is being held at the Washington National Cathedral. Graham’s office said that additional details regarding the services are forthcoming.
It’s not yet clear whether President Donald Trump will attend or have a role in the services.
Graham, a Trump ally who died serving in his fifth term in the Senate, was born in Central, South Carolina, in 1955. He graduated from Daniel High School in Central in 1973, according to his congressional biography.
Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, was sworn in to the Senate on Tuesday after she was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster just days after her brother’s death. Trump supported her appointment, calling it a “fabulous tribute” to Lindsey Graham, who at a young age became Darline Graham’s legal guardian after the deaths of their parents.
On Friday, Trump called on Darline Graham to run in the upcoming special primary election for Senate in South Carolina, which would set her up to potentially fill the seat of her late brother in a more permanent way.
Darline Graham has not yet announced whether she intends to run for the seat for the full term. A source involved with South Carolina politics told ABC News on Friday that she has been having conversations about running in the special election.
ABC News has reached out to Darline Graham’s office, but did not immediately hear back.
Darline Graham, who lives in Lexington, South Carolina, has served since 2019 as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. She also serves on the South Carolina State Workforce Development Board and is president-elect of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind.
She also previously held roles with Clemson University, the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce and the South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, the governor’s office said.
A special-election primary is scheduled for Aug. 11 to determine a Republican candidate for the Nov. 3 general election ballot — though a runoff could occur two weeks later if no candidate secures an absolute majority of votes.
