The US Supreme Court on Monday, 2 November 2026, rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to force California to set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 registered voters the administration had flagged as likely non-citizens until their citizenship could be verified.
The court gave no reasoning for its decision, as is common in emergency rulings. The case arrived on the eve of the midterm elections on 3 November 2026, which will decide control of Congress.
Lower courts had already refused the administration’s request. District Judge David Carter denied it on 28 October, and the 9th Circuit refused it on Friday.
California officials said the list appeared error-filled and warned that setting the ballots aside could disenfranchise legal voters. The administration argued that segregating the ballots was a modest step and that legal votes could still be counted.
Also on Monday, Chief Judge James Boasberg ruled that the administration’s last-minute demands on California election officials likely violated the Constitution’s Elections Clause.
Source: Associated Press
