A federal appellate panel on Tuesday refused to block President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to restrict mail voting, a day after the administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the proposal in a separate case.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a May ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols that said an injunction against the order was premature. Nichols ruled that the Democrats and voting rights groups who challenged the order couldn't seek the injunction until the Trump administration issued formal regulations governing it. The administration started releasing those directives days later.
The circuit court panel, with two judges appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama and one by Trump, found that was proper and there were no noted dissents. But the unsigned decision noted that if the administration truly tried to force such changes in the few months remaining before November's midterm election, it may well get halted by courts.
"The action the Order contemplates would involve the President, whom the Constitution vests with no express authority over the conduct of elections, undertaking a substantial and unfunded overhaul of election procedures — including the implementation of a nationwide reform to Postal Service mail-handling processes —on the threshold of the November election. Put differently, the Order 'may not prove feasible to implement in any manner whatsoever,'" said the ruling, quoting a prior legal opinion.
In a separate case filed by Democratic state officials, a federal judge in Massachusetts last month blocked the executive order from taking effect for this year’s elections because it was already forcing states, which are granted the power under the U.S. Constitution to control their own elections, to revise their procedures on the fly. That ruling was upheld on Saturday by a Boston-based appeals court and then was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday by the Trump administration.
The Postal Service did not immediately respond to questions about what action it's taking related to Trump's executive order. But the union representing postal workers, which opposes having its members implement the order, said Tuesday that its members are being directed to prepare an online portal through which voters will have to submit information to be eligible for mail ballots.
“The IT people in the background are moving forward with creating the portals to make sure that we can accomplish the task if given to us,” American Postal Workers Union President Jonathan Smith said in a telephone interview.
Trump has repeatedly tried to unilaterally change voting procedures since he took office for the second time, only to be blocked by the courts. The push follows years of lies about vote fraud to try to explain away the president's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
In his March executive order, Trump directed the federal government to create a list of eligible voters and the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to those on that list. Lawsuits noted that the Constitution grants states control of their elections, not the president, and that Congress can pass laws changing procedures for federal elections but has not done so.
Trump signed another executive order on elections last year, just months after taking office, that would impose a nationwide voter ID requirement and force anyone registering to vote to provide documents proving they are U.S. citizens. Trump also is pushing Congress to pass a sweeping voting bill that would impose the documentary proof of citizenship requirement, but it has stalled in the Senate as it faces opposition from Democrats and some lawmakers from his own party.
Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
Yvonne Daniels demonstrates against proposed changes to the U. S. Postal Service and President Donald Trump's executive order regarding mail-in ballots Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
A person drops envelopes into a mailbox as postal workers participate in a national day of action outside a U.S. Post Office building, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump met at the White House on Tuesday for the first time since they launched a joint war against Iran, offering a chance for Netanyahu to smooth out strains in their relationship.
The closed-door meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half and was “positive and productive," according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The White House did not immediately offer more details.
Despite signs of tension between the two ahead of the sitdown, Netanyahu was effusive afterward and called it “excellent” in a post on his Instagram profile.
“When I say excellent, I don’t mean it in a superficial way,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew. “A conversation with full partnership, with mutual support, with an understanding of the common goal of ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and other goals as well. One of the best conversations I’ve had with the President of the United States, our friend Donald Trump.”
It comes as both face growing pressures at home. Netanyahu is up for reelection and is embattled in part because of his deteriorating relationship with Trump. Trump is under pressure to end an unpopular war that has wreaked economic havoc and driven prices higher ahead of midterm elections this November.
Trump revealed some tension with Netanyahu ahead of their meeting, complaining about reports that the Israeli leader plans to discuss intelligence on Iranian activities at Pickaxe Mountain, a potential nuclear site that the U.S. president has threatened repeatedly to bomb.
“I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe,” Trump told “Fox & Friends.” He insisted that whatever Iran is doing is “not a big problem” and that “Bibi’s telling me that because he wants me to stay involved.”
“Why do you have to announce to the world?” Trump added, flashing his frustrations with his ally.
Near the White House where the public was able to gather near fencing, a small group of protesters chanted, “Netanyahu, you’re a tyrant” and “Bibi, you’re not welcome here,” referencing the prime minister's nickname.
The two leaders also planned to discuss the framework agreement the U.S. and Israel signed with Lebanon over the Israel-Hezbollah war and the expansion of the Abraham Accords, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the meeting.
“We have a little difference,” Trump said Monday when asked by reporters if he and Netanyahu were on the same page on Iran. “But pretty close, yeah.”
Trump has had a hot-and-cold history with Netanyahu over the years, but upon his return to the White House last year, their alliance seemed stronger than ever. When they started the war together in February, it was with a united front, touting their respective militaries as acting in lockstep to take out Iran’s leadership and pave the way for a government more friendly to the West.
But as Iran fought back — sending drones and missiles slamming into U.S. bases and high-rises in cities in the Gulf, and choking off the Strait of Hormuz — Trump came under immense pressure both at home and by allies in the region to end the conflict.
Since then, Netanyahu, who wanted to continue the fighting in Iran and against its ally, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, has been sidelined as Trump sought a deal with Tehran. His visit to the White House this week comes as the disagreements with Trump and Vice President JD Vance have burst into the open over the war in Iran and more.
“The Americans are making it clear to the Israelis they are the ones who are running the war,” Israeli journalist and political analyst Amit Segal wrote Monday in the daily newspaper, Israel Hayom. “It is clear to everyone that Israel has been put in the back seat.”
With U.S.-Iran tensions flaring again in recent weeks, Netanyahu planned to share with Trump Israeli intelligence on Tehran’s nuclear program, according to a person familiar with Netanyahu’s visit, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Israel’s United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters in New York on Tuesday that Netanyahu wants to hear what Trump would like to see over the coming days and weeks.
“I cannot tell you which direction it will go. There are different options,” he said. “We are prepared for all scenarios, and we will discuss it with the president.”
Netanyahu said Sunday that he hoped to sit down with Trump “to hear what he has in mind” for Iran.
“Because I think, in many ways, it’s his decision” on how to move forward, Netanyahu told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “If he can do so without returning to intense military fighting, that’s fine. Why not?
"But one way or the other, they have to end their nuclear program,” he said of Iran.
But even as Netanyahu sees an opportunity, he also needs to persuade Trump that he won’t play spoiler to U.S. diplomatic and reconstruction efforts in Gaza and in Lebanon, where the president has previously complained that “too many people are being killed” by Israeli strikes.
Israel has taken recent steps in both places.
In Lebanon, where the Israeli military occupies much of the south, Israel agreed to allow the Lebanese army to deploy to some villages as part of a “pilot program” testing their ability to secure areas where Hezbollah once operated. The U.S. State Department said Monday that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will take place next week in Rome with a focus on expanding the program.
On Gaza, Israel’s security cabinet green-lit on Sunday a measure that would, in theory, grant entry to the first members of an international stabilization force outlined last year in a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Few countries have pledged troops for the force, however, and Israel would approve their entry into Gaza on a case-by-case basis.
The troops — including from Morocco and Uganda — would only be allowed to operate in a small, desolate area in Rafah in the south, where the plan is to vet and house some displaced Palestinians.
The Israeli military continues to carry out strikes it says target militants but that have also killed civilians.
Israel has lost a significant amount of bipartisan support in the United States, particularly over its conduct in Gaza.
In June, Vance warned Israeli officials that Trump was their only friend among world leaders. Vance is expected to attend the meeting with Netanyahu, according to a person familiar with the plan who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
An AP-NORC poll published earlier this month found a dramatic erosion of support among American adults for Israel.
“We’ve lost America. Thank you, Bibi,” wrote Ben Caspit, a political commentator for Israel's Maariv newspaper.
Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Darlene Superville and Seung Min Kim in Washington, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report. Cunningham reported from Jerusalem.
A Lebanese military vehicle drives past homes damaged during the war in the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, Lebanon, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Mustafa Jamalddine)
Young men ride motorcycles along the shore as a tractor pulls equipment from the water and commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
FILE - President Donald Trump listens as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
