The Justice Department Takes Its California Ballot Fight to the Supreme Court, Asking to Set Aside Mail Ballots From 20,000 Listed Voters
One day before the midterms, the administration filed an emergency Supreme Court request in the fight a federal judge rejected last week — California calls the list behind it 'highly suspect.'
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to direct California to set aside mailed ballots cast by anyone on a list of 20,000 registered voters the administration alleges may not be citizens, according to the USA Today election live file read by the desk this cycle. The administration filed the emergency request on November 2, the day before midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress.
California's answer, carried in the same file, is that the state already has safeguards to protect election integrity, and that the process the administration used to create its own list is, in the state's words, “highly suspect.” The request reaches the high court after U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected the Justice Department's bid on October 28, saying never before in history has the federal government sought to coerce a state to abandon its constitutional election procedures and bend to the will of the executive branch — the ruling this station covered when it landed (SQ-20261030-032).
The emergency filing makes the California fight the second election-administration case moving on Election Eve, alongside the monitor deployment the desk files separately this cycle. The justices had not acted on the request in the file read this cycle; whether any ballots are segregated in California will be known only when the court responds.
