2025-2026 U.S. Supreme Court Term: Summary of Key Decisions and Implications for States - National Governors Association

• Judge Indira Talwani criticized a new Postal Service rule regarding mail-in voting that she believes could lead to major disenfranchisement of voters. • The judge described the rule as a haphazard experiment that could result in valid ballots being tossed.

• The British Polling Council and Market Research Society launched investigations into JL Partners following allegations that the firm broke transparency rules. • The inquiries follow recordings of Reform UK's head of policy, James Orr, and another individual apparently plotting to bypass electoral laws.

• Europe is facing an increasing series of Russian sabotage plots, including attempts to place incendiary devices on DHL cargo planes and destroy Polish railroad tracks. • Multiple targets have been identified across the continent, including warehouses and shopping centers throughout Europe.

• The European Payments Initiative has launched Wero, a new payment app replacing Payconiq to facilitate cross-border transactions across Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. • The app saw more than 34,000 downloads at launch in Luxembourg.

• European governments are increasingly attributing a surge in sabotage, including drone threats at Germany's Leipzig airport and attacks on defense facilities, to Russia's "hybrid war." • Over the past month alone, multiple incidents of suspected sabotage and unexplained fires have targeted European infrastructure supplying Ukraine.

• Mass migrant arrivals in Ceuta have triggered a political crisis, leading some European leaders to propose Spain's exclusion or suspension from the Schengen open-border arrangement. • Italy has already suspended the Schengen free-movement regime for its maritime and air links with Spain for a period of one month.

• EU foreign ministers met in Ireland but failed to reach an agreement on imposing trade sanctions on Israel or increasing military support for Ukraine. • Four nations, including Poland and Sweden, renewed calls to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine's military efforts.

• Canadian trade chief Maninder Sidhu has been invited to join EU trade talks in Dublin next month to strengthen ties between Brussels and Ottawa. • Five nations, including Germany and Denmark, are meeting in Copenhagen today to agree on deporting failed migrants to non-EU return hubs.

• Spain plans to request that its North African exclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, be recognized as outermost regions of the EU to integrate them into the bloc's financial and security architecture. • Two Spanish cities are targeted for this special legal status to grant them access to the EU's economic zone.

• North Carolina has begun mailing the first absentee ballots for the 2026 general election while President Donald Trump appeals a challenge to his mail-voting restrictions to the Supreme Court. • Ballots are being distributed across all 100 North Carolina counties to voters who requested them.

• The Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to allow a Trump-era USPS rule regarding the handling of mail-in ballots to proceed before the midterm elections. • A federal judge previously issued a temporary restraining order blocking parts of the rule from being implemented for the November 2026 election.