Supreme Court Turns Down California Ballot Bid
In a one-sentence order with no noted dissents, the justices refused the Justice Department's request to make California set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 voters the administration says are likely noncitizens.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, May 2026.Illustration by The Good Times, based on a photo by ajay_suresh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
The Supreme Court denied the Trump administration's emergency request to make California election officials set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 registered voters the administration has flagged as likely noncitizens. The unsigned, one-sentence order gave no reasons, and no justice noted a dissent. The application went to Justice Elena Kagan, who referred it to the full court, which ruled the same day it was filed without asking California to respond. A federal district judge, David Carter, had refused the request, and a Ninth Circuit panel also said no, 2-1. Last month the administration told state and Los Angeles County officials that more than 20,000 people on the rolls were suspected noncitizens; those officials questioned the list's accuracy, and the department sued to keep the ballots apart. The state has more than 23 million registered voters in all. The order leaves California's count as the state planned it, and the Justice Department's appeal continues. Voting by noncitizens in federal elections is already a federal crime, and confirmed cases are rare.
The court's order reads, in full: "The application for injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied." The case, United States v. California, was docketed, referred and decided on the same day, the docket shows. The Justice Department had filed hours earlier, and the court did not ask California officials to respond first, NBC News and CBS News reported.
The administration told officials in California and Los Angeles County last month that more than 20,000 people on the voter rolls were suspected noncitizens and asked that their ballots be set aside until their citizenship could be confirmed. California has more than 23 million registered voters. State and county officials questioned the accuracy of the list. The Justice Department sued state officials and Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, to force the ballots to be kept apart.
Judge Carter of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles refused. On October 30, a Ninth Circuit panel refused 2-1, with Judges Mark J. Bennett, a Trump appointee, and Gabriel P. Sanchez, a Biden appointee, in the majority, CNBC and the Los Angeles Times reported.
The order does not decide whether anyone on the list is a noncitizen, and it does not end the case. It means California does not have to separate those ballots while the appeal goes on. In a separate case, a federal judge in Alaska dismissed the Justice Department's suit to hold up certification of that state's Senate race on November 1.