SCOTUS rejects Trump bid to halt disputed California ballots before midterms
Supreme Court declines intervention
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court for a limited injunction on Monday, seeking to prevent California from mixing suspected illegal ballots with valid ones while voter status was checked. Hours later, the court declined to block the state from counting votes.
The Trump administration had appealed after a California district court rejected its lawsuit. The dispute concerns more than 20,000 mail-in ballots ahead of the US midterm elections.
Dispute over voter list
The Justice Department said it had a list documenting non-US citizens on California’s voter rolls. The Department of Homeland Security compiled the list, which California said was based on a process likely to contain errors.
A legal filing analyzing the list found that thousands of US citizens appeared to have been wrongly marked as ineligible. Judge David Carter said people flagged as noncitizens on voter rolls in other states had repeatedly turned out to be naturalized citizens.
Judge warns of election harm
When the initial case was filed in October, Carter warned that separating out ballots could disrupt the election and undermine voters’ confidence. He wrote that discounting votes based on unproven allegations put democracy at risk.
Last week, another federal judge ordered the Justice Department to provide its list to an immigrant rights group and a voting rights watchdog based at UCLA. Early voting had been underway in California for several weeks, and hundreds of thousands of ballots had already been processed.
Broader claims and state politics
Trump has made claims of election fraud for years, although multiple investigations have found such wrongdoing to be exceedingly rare. For this midterm cycle, he has focused on allegations that non-US citizens are trying to vote, claims that research and investigations have repeatedly debunked.
California is the most populous US state and leans heavily Democratic. It is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in the midterms.
Key points
- The Supreme Court declined to stop California from counting the disputed ballots.
- The Justice Department sought a limited injunction based on a federal voter list.
- A court analysis found thousands of US citizens appeared to be wrongly flagged.
- California said the method used to identify noncitizen voters was likely flawed.