Three weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a November 2020 vote-by-mail election, former U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa and Republican co-plaintiffs dropped their lawsuit over the issue.
On Thursday, Issa’s legal team wrote federal Judge Morrison C. England Jr. in Sacramento that “as a result of the enactment of AB 860, Defendants will not rely upon Executive Order N-64-20 in connection with the November 2020 election.”
It was Newsom’s order of May 8 that sparked the suit backed by the right-leaning Judicial Watch. It contended the governor couldn’t legally order all counties to send every registered voter an absentee ballot.
But AB 860 meant the suit was moot — since Issa’s team agreed that the Legislature itself could pass a mail-ballot mandate. Intervenors including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the California Democratic Party also noted the mootness.
I’ve been having a bit of a tussle over what the lawsuit accomplished with GOP officials.