Justices reject Trump administration's bid to make California set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 people it says may be noncitizens

The US Supreme Court on Monday 2 November rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to force California to set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 people the federal government says are likely noncitizens, AP, Reuters and SCOTUSblog reported. The order came hours before the last day of voting in the midterm elections.

The order. The court’s one-sentence, unsigned order read: “The application for injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied,” according to Deadline’s transcription. There were no noted dissents, CBS News, Reuters and SCOTUSblog reported, and the court gave no reasons. SCOTUSblog said the order was released to reporters shortly before 6 p.m. US Eastern time, which is shortly before 23:00 GMT on Monday. The court did not ask California officials to respond before ruling, a step that usually signals serious consideration of an emergency application, Reuters and NBC News noted.

Who brought the case. The Justice Department filed United States v. California (docket 26A624) in federal court in Los Angeles on 15 October. The defendants were the State of California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan, according to the Ninth Circuit’s order. The department argued that the Supremacy Clause and a federal law barring noncitizens from voting in federal elections mean California may not count such ballots, Reuters reported. The list of about 20,000 names was compiled by the Department of Homeland Security, according to Reuters.

Which ballots. The request concerned mail ballots returned by registered voters on the federal list. The department asked for them to be kept separate from other ballots until the voters’ citizenship could be verified. More than 6 million mail ballots had been returned in California as of Sunday, and the state has more than 23 million registered voters, CBS News reported. In a 19-page filing on Monday morning, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote: “Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back,” SCOTUSblog reported. The filing went first to Justice Elena Kagan, who handles emergency applications from the Ninth Circuit, and she referred it to the full court.

Earlier rulings. US District Judge David Carter refused a temporary restraining order on 28 October, writing that the administration’s process was “rife with uncertainty and errors,” CBS News reported. A divided three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit denied emergency relief on Friday, 2-1, with Judge Bumatay dissenting, according to the court’s order. Analysts working with a human rights group that obtained the list under a court order reported that roughly 9,000 names were not on California’s voter rolls, The Independent reported. The Justice Department has said it believes the people on the list are likely noncitizens. California has said its safeguards against noncitizen voting are robust and that the list is likely inaccurate, according to Reuters. Reuters noted that studies and state audits show ineligible voting, including by noncitizens, is rare.

Reactions. As of 00:05 GMT on Tuesday, no public statement from President Donald Trump, the White House, Weber or Governor Gavin Newsom that specifically responded to the order had been found in news reports or on their official accounts. Before the ruling, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said: “We will continue pursuing every available legal avenue to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure federal law is enforced,” The Independent reported. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the Supreme Court request “reeks of desperation” and was “another attempt to undermine our elections and trample on the rule of law.” Newsom wrote on X on Monday, according to Deadline: “If you interfere with our elections, California WILL come for you. No presidential pardon will save you. We are READY. Every eligible vote WILL be counted.” In an earlier letter to the Justice Department, Weber wrote: “I will not disenfranchise thousands of Californians—or order any county elections official to do so—based solely upon an unsupported and likely inaccurate ‘belie[f]’ that certain voters are ‘likely’ noncitizens,” Democracy Docket reported. In a statement on 14 October she said: “California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the State’s voter rolls.”

Wider context. AP described the decision as capping a string of losses for the president’s efforts to intervene in the election. Reuters noted that the court in September rebuffed another administration effort to restrict voting by mail, and that a federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit over the Alaska Senate race. The department has made a similar demand to Washington state, the Guardian reported. The Justice Department has also brought criminal charges against more than 200 people it alleges voted illegally in past elections, CBS News reported.

Earlier story: Justice Department asks Supreme Court to set aside California mail ballots.