Supreme Court Rejects DOJ Bid to Block California From Counting Disputed Mail-In Ballots

The Supreme Court on Monday evening denied the Department of Justice's last-minute request to temporarily block California from counting the mail-in ballots of roughly 20,000 voters whom the government suggested may not be U.S. citizens — a defeat for the Trump administration on the eve of the November 3 midterm elections.

The ruling came after the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the same request in a 2-1 decision three days earlier.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed the application to the Supreme Court on Monday, arguing that the government had identified more than 20,000 individuals "who appear to be registered to vote in California based on publicly available information at the time that information was received, but who, in the United States' view, are likely not U.S. citizens."

Sauer contended that "the United States is likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal" and warned that "once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back."

The Justice Department originally filed suit against California on October 15 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeking to prevent state election officials from tabulating mail-in ballots from "likely non-citizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter's citizenship status can be determined." The DOJ had also given Los Angeles County officials a thumb drive containing names of voters it suggested could be noncitizens.

Last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the DOJ's request to set aside the contested ballots. In his ruling, Carter wrote that the case is "about the right of every American citizen to vote in a free and fair election," adding 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."

"In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign," Carter continued. "But California and its people are sovereign, too."

The DOJ appealed that ruling to the 9th Circuit, where a three-judge panel rejected it in a 2-1 decision on Friday. Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez formed the majority, finding that "there is a material risk that granting the United States its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement." Bennett was appointed by President Donald Trump; Sanchez was appointed by former President Joe Biden.

The DOJ had argued before the lower courts that the government suffers "a judicially cognizable 'injury to its sovereignty' from the 'violation of its laws,'" though Judge Carter had ruled that the United States lacked Article III standing to bring the suit.

The California case is one of at least two recent legal setbacks for the administration in election-related litigation. On Sunday, a separate federal judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit that sought to block Alaska election officials from immediately certifying the result of the U.S. Senate race there if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan lost by a margin potentially attributable to voter confusion over another candidate sharing his name. The DOJ is appealing that ruling as well.

The midterm elections on November 3 will determine which parties hold majorities in both chambers of Congress, with President Trump's political capital widely seen as tied to the outcome.