US Supreme Court rejects Trump administration bid to set aside California ballots
The Supreme Court has denied a last-minute Justice Department request to intervene in California's midterm vote count, ending an effort to disqualify 20,000 ballots the administration alleged may have gone to non-citizens.
BBC World
The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-minute request by the Trump administration to intervene in California's midterm election vote count, clearing the way for counting to proceed on the eve of the vote.
The Justice Department had asked the court to force state officials to set aside 20,000 ballots it alleged may have been issued to non-US citizens. In a one-line order issued on Monday, the court denied the request for an injunction. "The application for injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied," it reads.
The ruling means decisions by two lower courts will stand and effectively ends the administration's attempt to disqualify the ballots. It came as Americans prepared to vote in midterms that will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term.
The dispute began last month, when the Justice Department sent letters to the California secretary of state and the Los Angeles County Registrar demanding they sequester the ballots of 20,000 registered voters whom the administration "believe" are "likely" non-citizens, according to court documents. About a week later, armed officials from the Department of Homeland Security delivered letters to county officials and employees across California threatening criminal charges if they did not comply. In a 22-page brief reviewed by the BBC, the department argued that ballots cast by non-citizens could "debase or dilute valid votes".
Lower courts had already sided against the government. On Friday, a federal appeals court declined its request to segregate the ballots. California election officials have questioned the accuracy of the government's list, saying it is riddled with inaccuracies, and warned that eligible voters could be disenfranchised. They also argued that separating ballots while voting is already under way would be unfeasible.
California is the most populous state in the country, with some 23 million people on its voting register. As of Sunday night, more than six million mail-in ballots had already been received, according to the California secretary of state's office.
The legal fight forms part of a years-long campaign by Trump and his administration against alleged voter fraud, which research shows is extremely rare. The president has repeatedly claimed that Democrats steal elections by allowing immigrants to vote illegally, and has blamed much of it on postal voting, which is permitted in many Democratic-led states.
Last week, District Judge David Carter issued a scathing ruling against the administration's move, calling it indicative of an "ongoing pattern of attempted election interference". He wrote that "never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the executive branch".