Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a last-minute bid by the Trump administration to force California to segregate mail ballots submitted by thousands of people it alleges are not U.S. citizens.
In a one-line, unsigned order, the court denied the Justice Department’s request for an injunction that would have required California election officials to set aside ballots linked to 20,000 suspected noncitizens. No justices noted a dissent.
The court ruled solely on the administration’s emergency request and did not require California election officials to respond before issuing its decision.
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to intervene earlier Monday after a divided federal appeals court declined to order California election workers to separate mail ballots cast by individuals included on a government list of “likely” noncitizens.
U.S. District Judge David Carter last week rejected the Justice Department’s request for a temporary restraining order. Such an order would have required ballots associated with people on the list to be segregated, but Carter said the administration’s method for identifying alleged noncitizens was “rife with uncertainty and errors.”
The California ballot dispute has unfolded during the final days of the 2026 midterm campaign, as Republicans work to retain control of the House and Senate. Voting began in the state in early October, and California election offices have received more than 6 million mail ballots.
President Trump has repeatedly asserted that large numbers of noncitizens are voting in U.S. elections, although confirmed cases remain rare. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections. The Justice Department has filed criminal charges against more than 200 people whom prosecutors have accused of voting illegally in previous elections.
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Last month, the Trump administration told California and Los Angeles County officials that more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens appeared on the state’s voter rolls. It instructed officials to set aside ballots received from those individuals and refrain from counting them until their citizenship was verified. The administration later sent letters to all 58 California counties containing lists of alleged noncitizens registered to vote and demanded that their ballots be segregated. California has more than 23 million registered voters.
State and local election officials questioned the list’s accuracy and warned that following the federal directive could improperly prevent eligible U.S. citizens from having their votes counted.
The Justice Department subsequently sued California officials, along with Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder and county clerk, and asked a court to order the ballots segregated.
Neither the district court nor the 9th Circuit agreed to grant that request.
With Tuesday’s midterm elections nearing, the Trump administration has taken additional steps aimed at intervening in election procedures. Federal prosecutors sent Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs a letter ordering him to set aside mail ballots from more than 400 people they alleged were not U.S. citizens. Hobbs, however, said the government’s list included “many” people who were in fact U.S. citizens.
The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Alaska from certifying its Senate election results if Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. A judge dismissed the case Sunday.
