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The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,195 bills so far this session, with 581 bills that tighten voter access or election administration and 1,048 bills that expand the rules. The rest are neutral or mixed or unclear in their impact.
Last week, a federal court in Wisconsin ruled that voters with disabilities are entitled to assistance when returning mail ballots, while a Massachusetts court affirmed the legitimacy of recent election reforms, including no-excuse mail voting and in-person early voting.
Meanwhile, Republican groups sued Pennsylvania counties over ballot envelope curing processes.
Looking ahead: The Michigan Board of State Canvassers deadlocked during a vote on the certification of the Promote the Vote ballot measure, which seeks to make voting more accessible to Michigan voters. The state Supreme Court must decide whether the measure will be on the November ballot by Friday, Sept. 9.
Here are the details:
A federal court rules that Wisconsin voters with disabilities have a right to assistance when returning absentee ballots. A federal court struck down the Wisconsin Election Commission’s guidance requiring absentee ballots to be returned by the voter without assistance from a third party or agent. A U.S. District Court determined this guidance was in violation of Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which entitles those with disabilities the right to have assistance when voting.
State and national GOP groups sue Pennsylvania counties over ballot envelope cure. Several national and state Republican groups filed suit against both acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Leigh Chapman and county election officials, seeking to prevent county officials from notifying voters about minor errors on ballot return envelopes and giving them an opportunity to correct (or “cure”) the issue. Pennsylvania statutory law is silent on cure procedures, and the plaintiffs argue that the varying procedures between counties can lead to unequal treatment of voters. The plaintiffs separately rely on a version of the “independent state legislature” theory by arguing that counties may not create cure procedures unless explicitly authorized by the legislature.
Massachusetts court affirms validity of election reforms. The Supreme Judicial Court for the County of Suffolk rejected a state constitutional challenge to early voting and mail voting legislation brought by the state Republican Party. The plaintiffs in the case argued that the state Constitution does not allow the Legislature to establish no-excuse mail voting or in-person early voting.
Michigan canvassing board deadlocks on ballot measure. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted 2-2 on the question of certification of the Promote the Vote ballot measure for the November ballot. If approved by voters, the measure would increase access to in-person early voting, require a minimum number of ballot drop boxes in every city or township, and establish guardrails for boards of canvassers throughout the election certification process. Due to the deadlock by the state board, the state Supreme Court must decide whether the measure will be on the November ballot by Friday.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.