Superior Court Judge in rural California decides Governor Newsom violated state constitution with vote-by-mail mandate

Two California legislators representing rural districts--well, one represents a largely nonmetro district, the other a suburban/exurban district--sued Governor Gavin Newsom for allegedly exceeding his authority when, in June, he issued an executive order "specifying how counties should carry out a mostly vote-by-mail election."  Here is an excerpt from the coverage by the Sacramento Bee:  

Judge Sarah Heckman [of Sutter County Superior Court] wrote Newsom exceeded his authority and violated the separation of powers between the three branches of government when he issued Executive Order N-67-20 directing county election officials to take certain steps leading up to the general election. Newsom’s order cited the coronavirus outbreak as an emergency that warranted additional election protocol.

His order specified how many polling places and ballot drop boxes counties must have. An earlier executive order, N-64-20, required counties to send mail ballots to all registered voters.

Shortly after he issued the election orders, the Legislature passed two bills that effectively put his directives into law.

The population of Sutter County is 94,737.  The assembly member for Sutter County, James Gallagher, who was one of the plaintiffs, also represents Butte County, home to several recent disastrous wildfires.  The Chico Enterprise-Record's coverage (shared with the Marysville Appeal-Democrat) can be found here.  

In short, this appears to be grandstanding by two conservative assembly members looking to give the governor a black eye.  As the Bee reports, "The ruling will not affect the 2020 election, although it invalidates the election process executive order."  Further, the Newsom administration can appeal this ruling, as they successfully did an earlier injunction that had relied on similar arguments.