Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid to Set Aside California Ballots on Eve of Midterms

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to force California to set aside midterm ballots cast by about 20,000 registered voters the administration says may not be U.S. citizens. The court issued a one-sentence order with no noted dissents, hours after the request was filed, on the eve of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

How the case reached the court

The Justice Department sued California in October, saying the state was blocking enforcement of the federal ban on noncitizen voting in federal elections. The administration asked California to segregate mail ballots tied to people on a federal list until their citizenship was checked.

On Oct. 28, U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected the request for a temporary restraining order, saying the administration had not shown it used a “credible” process to build its list. Carter wrote that no federal government had ever, on the eve of an election, sought to force a state and local government to abandon its own constitutional election procedures. On Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against the administration, saying segregating the ballots of specific people was not feasible without potentially catastrophic effects on the whole system. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented, calling the request reasonable and saying it would allow time to check eligibility without canceling any vote.

What the ruling leaves in place

With the Supreme Court declining to intervene, California will use its existing procedures to process ballots and check voter eligibility. California has said it already has safeguards for election integrity and has called the process used to build the federal list “highly suspect.” The administration has said California is impeding enforcement of that ban. The court gave no explanation for its decision.

Reporting based on coverage by USA TODAY.