Supreme Court Refuses to Stop California Mail Ballots as Trump Administration’s Election Integrity Challenge Is Rebuffed
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The U.S. Supreme Court turned away the Trump administration’s emergency request to set aside thousands of California mail ballots flagged as possibly cast by non-citizens, leaving questions about election integrity unresolved on the final day of the midterm elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied an emergency petition from the Trump administration seeking to suspend about 20,000 mail ballots in California pending verification of the voters' citizenship status. The high court offered no detailed explanation, which is common in urgent rulings, but the decision left the administration without immediate relief in its effort to protect the vote from potentially ineligible ballots.
State officials argued that the list supplied by the Justice Department contained numerous errors and that removing the ballots at this stage would disenfranchise eligible voters. California election officials also noted that all 23 million registered voters receive mail ballots and that processing the challenged ballots now would be logistically infeasible. Supporters of the administration say those concerns do not erase the need to verify citizenship before ballots are counted.
"The Executive Branch has likely violated the Constitution's Elections Clause, which commits authority over election rules to the states and Congress alone," wrote Chief Judge James Boasberg in a related decision.
Earlier, a district court judge had denied the Justice Department's request, warning that the action could disenfranchise citizens. During a hearing, District Judge Trina Thompson asked Justice Department attorney Kenneth Kao if the data list had a high error rate. Kao responded, "That's a fair statement. That's why we ask for the registrars' aid in verifying these are all valid voters."
Federal prosecutor Bill Essayli, who leads the Justice Department's Los Angeles office, said the administration was confident the individuals on the list were not entitled to vote, while acknowledging the possibility of some inaccuracies. California Attorney General Rob Bonta criticized the appeal as an attempt to undermine the election process, even as lower courts have warned that separating the ballots could disrupt the midterm election and erode public confidence.
The Supreme Court's refusal follows a series of recent rulings against the administration's election-related lawsuits, including a September decision that blocked a nationwide effort to restrict mail voting. As of Monday, more than 24 million mail-in ballots had been cast nationwide, making the dispute part of a broader fight over election rules and ballot security.