The Supreme Court on Monday upheld state laws that allow for counting mail ballots that are postmarked by election day but arrive later. The 5-4 decision rejects a Republican challenge to laws in California and 13 other mostly Democratic states which permit the counting of these late-arriving ballots.

Div. One of this district’s Court of Appeal has held that a trial judge erred in declining to issue a domestic violence protective order against a man based on a finding that he had stopped communicating with his ex-girlfriend after their break-up, despite evidence that he had repeatedly changed his social-media profile name to derogatory comments about her and posted purportedly embarrassing images of her on his page.

Div. Five of this district’s Court of Appeal has held that union disciplinary hearings are “official proceedings” within the meaning of California’s anti-SLAPP law, rejecting the view that they are outside the ambit of “protected activities” under the scheme because of the private nature of labor groups and the absence of statutory authority for such procedures.

Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a measure Monday that will expand judicial discretion over the state’s mental health diversion program. Assembly Bill 46, carried by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, removes a legal standard that restricted courts’ ability to deny diversion. Newsom’s signature on the bill will allow courts to prevent the diversion of violent criminals with greater ease.