OMM Newsroom
The US Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to block the counting of mail-in ballots cast by more than 20,000 registered voters in California whose citizenship status the administration had challenged.
The justices rejected the Justice Department’s emergency appeal on Monday, hours after it was filed, AnewZ reported. The court issued a one-sentence order without explaining its decision. None of the justices publicly dissented.
The administration had asked California to separate the contested ballots from others and not count them until the voters’ citizenship was verified.
The decision came after a federal appeals court rejected a similar request on Friday and ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Republicans are seeking to retain control of Congress.
Dispute over voter eligibility
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on October 15, alleging that California was obstructing enforcement of a 1996 federal law that makes it a crime for non-US citizens to vote in federal elections.
The Department of Homeland Security compiled a list of more than 20,000 registered voters and shared it with officials in California and Los Angeles County.
The administration argued that counting ballots before verifying voters’ citizenship could make it impossible to distinguish potentially ineligible votes from lawful ones.
California questioned the reliability of the federal government’s verification process, saying it could wrongly identify eligible voters as noncitizens. State officials also said existing safeguards were sufficient to prevent noncitizens from voting.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the administration’s latest legal action as an attempt to undermine the election and said the state would defend voting rights.
Courts reject demand for federal intervention
A federal district judge in Los Angeles rejected the administration’s request on October 28. Judge David Carter questioned the reliability of federal data and warned that unproven allegations should not be used as grounds to invalidate votes.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, also rejected the request to halt ballot counting on Friday. It cited California’s authority to establish election procedures and its system for canceling registrations when voters are found ineligible.
The US Constitution gives states primary responsibility for conducting elections, while the federal government retains certain oversight powers.
The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to influence how states manage voter registration and election procedures. The Justice Department has warned election officials in all 50 states that they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly allow noncitizens to remain on voter rolls or to vote.
The Justice Department has also suffered a series of court defeats in its efforts to obtain state voter registration records, including sensitive personal information.
Several studies and state audits have found that voting by ineligible people, including noncitizens, is rare.
California, the most populous US state, has 52 seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to secure a majority in the chamber.
