Supreme Court denies DOJ bid to halt California ballot processing

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal from the Department of Justice on Monday evening, hours before Tuesday's election. The decision prevents federal authorities from forcing California to segregate and pause the counting of ballots for roughly 20,000 individuals the department identifies as likely noncitizens.

The Justice Department filed its request for emergency injunctive relief after lower courts rejected its efforts to control state election administration. A federal judge in San Francisco previously described the department's actions as a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials. Judge David Carter, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, and a divided Ninth Circuit panel had already denied the department's order to set aside specific ballots.

Ninth Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez issued a Friday ruling that refused the department's emergency request. The two judges cited the Purcell principle, a legal standard that discourages changing election rules on the eve of a vote. They also pointed to the Constitution's grant of authority to states over elections and the National Voter Registration Act. That federal law prohibits states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election.

Judge Patrick Bumatay, the third member of the appellate panel, dissented from the decision. The majority opinion noted a material risk that granting the federal government's relief would lead to disenfranchisement and jeopardize the entire Los Angeles County election.

The actual number of ballots subject to the dispute is likely lower than the 20,000 figure cited by the department. County election officials found that many people on the federal list did not hold active voter registrations and were not mailed ballots. Data scientists at the University of California Los Angeles Voting Rights Project gained access to the list through a separate court order over the weekend. Their analysis determined that 42 percent of the names on the DOJ list do not appear on California's current voter roll and that the list includes naturalized citizens.

The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene occurs while the Justice Department escalates its conflict with California officials. In recent weeks, the department sent subpoenas to election administrators and warned that officials could face criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late Friday that bars the Trump administration from threatening, intimidating, or coercing election officials to stop processing these specific ballots. The federal government has appealed that order.