Follow-Up: Supreme Court Denies DOJ Emergency Application: Mail Ballots of More Than 20,000 California Voters to Be Counted Under Existing Rules

Washington — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, November 2, denied the U.S. Department of Justice's emergency application, refusing to order California to set aside mail ballots cast by more than 20,000 registered voters and hold them uncounted until each voter's citizenship is verified. The denial came one day before the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide control of both houses of Congress; California will continue to process and count the ballots under its existing procedures.

The Court's docket in the case (No. 26A624, United States v. California, et al.) shows the application was submitted to Justice Elena Kagan and by her referred to the full Court. The Court's order list for Monday, November 2 (610 U.S.), states in a single sentence that the application for an injunction pending appeal is denied. No justice noted a dissent, and the Court issued no opinion explaining its reasoning.

The emergency application was filed Monday morning by U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer. The Justice Department told the Court that the United States had identified more than 20,000 individuals registered to vote in California who are likely not U.S. citizens, and asked the Court to order California to segregate mail ballots cast by those persons until the lawfulness of the ballots could be adjudicated. The department sued California on October 15 under a 1996 federal law that makes it a criminal offense for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.

The request reached the Supreme Court after a week of losses in the lower courts. U.S. District Judge David Carter refused on October 28 to order California to segregate the ballots, and the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit refused the same request on October 30 by a 2-1 vote, with the majority warning that changing counting procedures on the eve of the election risked disenfranchising eligible voters.

California says the federal list is riddled with inaccuracies and accuses the administration of trying to sow doubt in the country's democratic process. State Attorney General Rob Bonta, responding when the department filed its Supreme Court application, said three legal victories in one week make clear the federal government has zero authority to interfere in California's elections; county election officials have also noted that many people on the list did not have active voter registrations and were not mailed ballots, so the number of ballots actually in dispute is likely much smaller than 20,000.

The order decides only the emergency application on the eve of the election; it does not rule on the merits of the Justice Department's lawsuit, which continues in the lower courts. In a separate case the same day, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop demanding that California segregate the ballots. This story is still developing.

Related: Follow-Up: DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Order California to Set Aside Mail Ballots From More Than 20,000 Voters Pending Citizenship Verification

Related: Follow-Up: Federal Judge Orders Administration to Stop Demanding California Segregate Ballots of More Than 20,000 Voters, Finding Suspect List Flawed

(Source: U.S. Supreme Court)

Source: U.S. Supreme Court

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：位于 Washington 的美国最高法院大楼立面（资料图）。Daderot 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Facade of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington (file photo). By Daderot, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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