In brief
On Monday, the Supreme Court scooped up a brief emergency petition, siding with California and dismissing the DOJ’s claims that more than 20,000 voters could be non‑citizens. The court ruled the evidence was insufficient to halt the count, which was about to begin for the midterm elections. California officials and the governor warned the federal government could seek further measures, but the Supreme Court's decision keeps the ballot count on track.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a last‑minute request from President Donald Trump’s administration to halt California from counting more than 20,000 mail‑in ballots that the Department of Justice alleged were cast by non‑citizens, just hours before midterm polling opened.
The DOJ’s complaint, filed on Oct. 15, claimed that a large portion of California’s voter rolls included non‑citizen voters and asked the state to withhold the identified ballots until citizenship status could be verified. It also asked federal judges to intervene and, according to Trump’s posted letter from acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, threatened California election officials with jail time for “knowingly facilitating” non‑citizen voting.
“Knowingly facilitating noncitizen voting in federal elections is unlawful,” the letter read, according to Xinhua.
In a swift ruling, the Court declined the emergency petition, saying the evidence presented did not meet the threshold to justify suspending a large portion of the state’s mail‑in ballots. The decision came minutes before voters in California were scheduled to drive to the polls.
California Governor Gavin Newsom warned that the federal government might seek additional actions, such as search warrants for ballots and other election materials, that could disrupt the state’s counting and certification process.
A federal judge had earlier ordered the Trump administration to abandon its demands to separate suspected non‑citizen ballots, a decision reported by Reuters and IndiaToday before the Supreme Court’s ruling.
