"Once again, President Trump is trying to rewrite the rules of our elections. But he lacks the authority to do so — full stop," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

Donald Trump is “unlawfully” trying to dictate how states run elections in violation of the U.S. Constitution by restricting voter eligibility and mail-in voting to lists of voters pre-authorized by the Trump administration, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Friday.

In March 2025, the 45th and 47th president issued Executive Order 14248, titled: “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” The order broadly seeks to reshape how elections are administered in the country by, among other things, purporting to enforce a requirement that all voters prove their citizenship by way of formal documentation and by putting a stop to vote-by-mail systems that count ballots postmarked by, but received after, Election Day.

Last month, Trump issued yet another elections-focused executive order titled: “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” The latest order aims to firm up and formalize the administration’s citizenship-and-documentation efforts by creating and enforcing the use of approved voter lists, limiting mail-in voting based on harmony with such lists, and imposing record-keeping requirements on states.