US Supreme Court rejects Trump request on California ballots

Hours before the US midterm elections, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from President Donald Trump's administration to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots from over 20,000 registered voters whom federal authorities claimed were likely not US citizens.

In a swift decision on a legal dispute that could have affected thousands of voters, the court denied the Justice Department's emergency request to stop counting the disputed ballots until each voter's citizenship status could be verified.

The court's rejection dealt another setback to Trump and fellow Republicans, who are struggling to maintain control of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections. California is the most populous US state and a Democratic stronghold.

The administration has intensified its focus on allegations of non-citizens voting ahead of the midterms. However, numerous studies and state audits show that voting by ineligible individuals, including non-citizens, is extremely rare.

The Supreme Court's brief, one-sentence order on Monday offered no explanation, as is typical in emergency cases. No justice publicly dissented. The court also did not ask California to respond to the administration's request, a step that usually signals serious consideration of an emergency appeal.

A federal appeals court had already rejected the request on Friday.

In its application to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department argued, "Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ballots, there will be no way to recover the challenged votes."

The administration had asked California to separate any allegedly unlawful ballots from others and not count them until it could be confirmed that those voters are US citizens.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement, "This latest move smacks of desperation and is another attempt to undermine our elections and violate the rule of law," vowing to "defend the fundamental right to vote and resist this chaos."

Trump has made false claims of widespread voter fraud in the US, including in the 2020 election, which he lost to Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Acting US Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote on social media, "We will continue to pursue every available legal avenue to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure federal law is enforced."