Trump Team Seeks Supreme Court Help on CA Votes

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. The move seeks to pause the counting of approximately 20,000 mail ballots in California. These ballots are linked to voters the federal government suspects may not be citizens. The election is scheduled for Tuesday.

A divided federal appeals court rejected this request earlier in the week. The Justice Department now asks the Supreme Court for a limited injunction. This order would direct California to separate the disputed ballots from the rest while the legal case continues. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote that once the ballots are mixed with lawful ones, they cannot be retrieved.

California has mailed ballots to all of its roughly 23 million registered voters since early October. The state is largely Democratic. Election officials say hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed. They argue it is logistically impossible to find and set aside the specific challenged ballots at this stage.

A district court judge previously denied the Justice Department's request. Judge David O. Carter, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, warned that the demand could disenfranchise citizens. He stated that if the executive branch can discount votes based on unproven allegations, the democracy is in danger.

The appeals court panel voted 2-1 to uphold the district judge's order. One judge appointed by President Trump and one appointed by President Joe Biden voted to keep the ballots in the count. A third judge, also appointed by Trump, dissented. That dissenting opinion argued that California's refusal to separate the ballots encourages a violation of federal law.

The administration has made identifying noncitizen voters a priority this year. California officials counter that the federal list is unreliable and likely includes many U.S. citizens. The Supreme Court has previously rejected the president's push to restrict mail ballots before this midterm cycle.

The case moves forward as voting continues in California. The stakes involve control of Congress in Tuesday's election.