Supreme Court swiftly rejects Trump administration bid to block California voters

The Supreme Court swiftly rejected the Trump administration’s emergency bid to force California to segregate ballots from more than 20,000 people it alleges may be noncitizens. 

The decision hands the administration its third and final defeat in its effort to intervene in the state’s ongoing election*.

The justices denied the administration’s emergency application without explanation, just hours after it was filed Monday. Justice Elena Kagan referred the request to the full Court, which rejected it with no noted dissents. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) made its last-minute pitch to the Court after two lower courts rejected the government’s request that California separate the ballots to verify voter citizenship, despite the profound rarity of noncitizen voting across the nation. The DOJ has sought a similar outcome for some 400 Washington state voters.

The failed challenge represented one of the most significant escalations of President Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere with states’ control over elections.

“California has refused to work with the Federal Government to protect against noncitizen voting, which dilutes lawful votes,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote on social media Monday. “We will continue pursuing every available legal avenue to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure federal law is enforced.”

The DOJ’s claims that nearly 21,000 noncitizens are illegally registered to vote in California have been met with intense skepticism. On Saturday, data scientists working with an immigrants rights group revealed the government’s list contained serious errors.

The list of purported noncitizen voters was missing the “single most critical column” for identifying voters — the state voter identification number. Government data also included mismatched dates, experts concluded. 

The data scientists also found the list included dozens of U.S. citizens and thousands of people not currently registered to vote in California.

Monday’s rejection marks the third time this fall that the Supreme Court has stepped in to stop the Trump administration or the Republican Party’s repeated attempts to rig elections in their favor. In September, the justices shot down Trump’s bid to restrict mail voting and threw out Missouri’s Trump-backed congressional gerrymander.

The high court’s response comes on the eve of Election Day, with over 6 million early votes already cast in California.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents intervenors in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.