The US Supreme Court rejected the administration’s request to set aside 20,000 California ballots.
The US Supreme Court denied an emergency request targeting 20,000 ballots, leaving two lower court decisions in place.
The US Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to set aside 20,000 California ballots. The justice department alleged that non-US citizens may have received the ballots, a claim state election officials disputed.
Monday’s decision leaves two lower court rulings in place, effectively ending the administration’s bid to disqualify the ballots. It comes ahead of midterm elections that will determine control of Congress during President Donald Trump’s final two years in office.
The court issued a one-line order denying an injunction pending appeal. Justice Elena Kagan had referred the application to the full court.
California ballots targeted in federal demands
Court documents show that the justice department sent letters to California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County Registrar last month. It demanded that officials separate ballots linked to 20,000 registered voters it believed were likely non-citizens.
About a week later, armed Department of Homeland Security officials delivered letters to county officials and employees across California. Those letters threatened criminal charges unless officials separated the disputed ballots.
In a 22-page brief, the justice department argued that votes from non-citizens could weaken the value of valid votes. However, California election officials challenged the accuracy of the federal government’s identification process and voter list.
They also warned that the demands could deny eligible voters their voting rights. Separating ballots while voting continued was not feasible, the officials said.
Lower courts rejected the administration’s case
A federal appeals court declined the government’s request on Friday. Earlier, district judge David Carter criticised the effort as part of a continuing pattern of attempted election interference by the administration.
Carter said the federal government’s attempt to force state and local officials to abandon constitutional election procedures was historically unprecedented. He also criticised the pressure on officials to follow the executive branch’s demands immediately before an election.
Meanwhile, California’s secretary of state’s office said more than six million mail-in ballots had arrived by Sunday night. The state, America’s most populous, has about 23 million registered voters.
The legal challenge forms part of Trump’s longstanding campaign against alleged widespread voter fraud. Research, however, shows that such fraud is extremely rare.
Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats of using illegal immigrant voting to steal elections. He has also directed much of his criticism at mail-in voting, which many Democratic states permit.
