On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last‑minute request from the Trump administration to stop California from counting more than 20,000 mail‑in ballots those that the Department of Justice (DOJ) says may have been cast by noncitizens. The decision was handed down just hours before voters in California opened the polls for the midterm elections, ensuring the ballots would move forward in the counting process.
The DOJ had sued California election officials on Oct. 15, arguing that many voters on the state’s list might not be U.S. citizens. It asked state officials to verify each name and keep the ballots out of the count until citizenship could be confirmed.
Trump posted a letter from Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter on Truth Social that said “knowingly facilitating noncitizen voting in federal elections is ‘unlawful’.” The post also threatened that California election officials “will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”
“knowingly facilitating noncitizen voting in federal elections is ‘unlawful’.”
By refusing to halt the count, the Court effectively cleared the path for 20,000 ballots to be tallied. Those votes could influence the outcome of House seats, as the number of votes for each candidate shapes the balance of power in Congress. The Supreme Court said the DOJ had not supplied enough evidence to justify a pause, noting that the election schedule had to be respected.
Earlier this week, federal judges had already rejected the DOJ’s requests, ruling them unconstitutional. A judge in a related case ordered the Trump administration to stop demanding that California remove suspected noncitizen voters.
Los Angeles Times reporters noted that the DOJ’s list lacked a transparent method for verifying the identities of those on it, making it hard for California to reject ballots based only on unchecked records.
California Governor Gavin Newsom warned that the federal government could seek search warrants to seize ballots and other election materials, a move that could disrupt the state’s vote‑counting and certification processes.
