WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to force California to set aside mail-in ballots from 20,000 voters the government calls likely noncitizens, one day before the midterm elections. In a one-sentence order, the court said the application in United States v. California, presented to Justice Elena Kagan and referred by her to the full court, “is denied.”
“The application for injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied.”
The unsigned order gave no reasoning, and no justice noted a dissent. The court ruled within hours of the Justice Department’s filing on Monday, without first asking California to respond.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the application that the United States had identified “more than 20,000 individuals who appear to be registered to vote in California” who, in the government’s view, “are likely not U.S. citizens.”
The Justice Department sued California in October, arguing the state is blocking enforcement of the federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. A federal judge rejected the administration’s bid on Oct. 28, and a divided Ninth Circuit panel ruled against it on Friday.
The Ninth Circuit wrote that “the risks that noncitizens are voting are, at best, uncertain,” and that ordering the ballots set aside carried a material risk of disenfranchisement. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented, saying the government was asking only to keep the challenged ballots from being mixed with others until the voters could be verified.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated the ruling in a post on X. “California just secured a HISTORIC Supreme Court defeat against Donald Trump,” Newsom wrote. “The Court rejected Trump’s emergency request without even asking the other side to respond — a first. Democracy won. VOTE!”
Californians vote Tuesday in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
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