Trump DOJ drops California ballot segregation lawsuit after Supreme Court defeat

The Trump administration voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against California Friday, abandoning its effort to force election officials to set aside thousands of mail ballots cast by voters it suspected of being noncitizens.

The Department of Justice’s decision comes four days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its emergency request to block the counting of the disputed ballots, marking the end of a closely watched legal battle over federal interference in the 2026 midterm elections.

In a filing Friday, DOJ acknowledged that the relief it sought was no longer possible because California election officials would have already mixed the challenged ballots with other votes by the time of a scheduled Nov. 13 hearing.

“There is then no way to get the challenged ballots segregated,” DOJ attorneys wrote, arguing that the case was now moot.

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 15, sought to compel California and Los Angeles County election officials to separate mail ballots belonging to roughly 20,000 registered voters whom the federal government identified as likely noncitizens. DOJ wanted those ballots withheld from the count until officials verified the voters’ citizenship.

But California officials challenged the accuracy of the federal government’s list, warning that it included eligible voters and that complying with DOJ’s demands could disenfranchise American citizens.

U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the administration’s request for emergency relief, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently rejected its attempt to force California officials to segregate the ballots.

On Nov. 2, just one day before Election Day, the Supreme Court also declined to intervene, leaving the lower court decisions in place.

In Friday’s dismissal notice, DOJ criticized the timing of the proceedings, saying the district court had not granted the emergency relief it requested before Election Day and had instead scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for Nov. 13.

The department dismissed the case under a federal procedural rule that allows plaintiffs to voluntarily withdraw a lawsuit before defendants file an answer or motion for summary judgment. The case therefore ends without a final ruling on the merits.

Despite abandoning the lawsuit, DOJ signaled that it was not necessarily giving up its broader efforts to challenge voting by suspected noncitizens.

“The United States is evaluating how to best ensure that American votes are protected, including by preventing vote dilution by noncitizens,” government attorneys wrote.

The filing did not identify any specific new legal actions.

The dismissal follows another setback for the administration in Washington state Thursday, when a federal judge temporarily barred DOJ officials from using coercive demands and threats of prosecution to pressure election officials into withholding ballots during the ongoing count.