Axios

Chad Wolf has not been serving lawfully as the acting secretary of Homeland Security, and therefore his suspension of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is invalid, a federal judge ruled on Saturday.

Driving the news: Wolf issued a memo in late July that said DHS would no longer accept new DACA applications and would limit renewals, pending a review of the program. The move came despite the June Supreme Court ruling that said the Trump administration violated federal law when it ended the program, which offers protections from deportation for roughly 649,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Education is viewed as America’s great equalizer. But our segregated past supports barriers to quality education today.

"The machinery of American democracy is working," Emily Bazelon writes in Sunday's issue of The New York Times Magazine, noting "America's pandemic election was a remarkable, unlikely feat."

The big picture: A committee composed of officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and its election partners earlier this week refuted President Trump's persistent claims of widespread voter fraud and irregularities, calling the election "the most secure in American history."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has admitted he shouldn't have attended a birthday party with a dozen people at the French Laundry, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Napa County.

What he's saying: "While our family followed the restaurant’s health protocols and took safety precautions, we should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner,” Newsom said in a statement.

The U.S. citizenship test will now require immigrants to answer more questions correctly to earn a passing score, per an announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The state of play: The naturalization test previously required individuals to study from a pool of 100 civics questions, and then answer six of 10 right on a given test. The updated version now obligates test-takers study from a pool of 128 civics questions in three categories and to answer 12 of 20 correctly to pass.

President Trump on Saturday missed a summit with Southeast Asian leaders for the third consecutive year, having last attended the event in 2017, AP reports.

Why it matters: China is poised to expand its influence in the Southeast Asian region through a significant trade deal, including nations such as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The U.S. will not be included and India pulled out of the deal.

A strong majority of Americans say our public education system is unequal, and half say the nation's schools aren't well equipped to help children of all races and ethnicities succeed, according to a new Axios-Ipsos survey.

Why it matters: As our nation becomes more diverse and confronts racial discrimination, Americans want our school systems to live up to the promise of providing a more equal opportunity for all children to succeed.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) issued a statewide mask mandate late Friday evening that will apply when individuals are inside businesses, indoor public spaces or outdoor spaces when social distancing is not sufficient.

Why it matters: North Dakota's coronavirus numbers per capita are soaring, with the state reporting over 1,800 new cases on Thursday and another 1,400 new cases on Friday. The state's hospitals are overloaded, as are its neighbor, South Dakota's. States nationwide are approaching or already in similar conundrums.

President Trump's delay in transitioning "hurts out national security," John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, told Politico on Friday.

Why it matters: Trump has not publicly conceded to Joe Biden, and General Services Administration Administrator Emily Murphy — a Trump political appointee — has not signed documents declaring Biden the apparent winner, preventing his agency review teams from having access to the information they need in order to get to work.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) announced on Twitter Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19 but is not currently experiencing symptoms associated with the virus.

Why it matters: Sisolak's diagnosis comes as Nevada experiences record new case numbers and makes him the fifth governor to contract the virus so far this year, according to AP.

16 assistant U.S. attorneys tasked with monitoring election misconduct urged Attorney General Bill Barr on Friday to retract a recent memo directing investigators to pursue allegations of "voting and vote tabulation irregularities” prior to the certification of election results, the Washington Post reported.

Why it matters: Barr’s move reverses longstanding Justice Department policy and critics condemned the memo for its political undertone which could fuel President Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread election fraud. Barr also faced internal criticism, as current and former DOJ officials told the Post they were concerned that he was trying to help the president cast doubt on the election outcome.