Supreme Court rejects bid to segregate California ballots

The Supreme Court on November 2 rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to make California set aside ballots associated with about 20,000 voters the federal government identified as suspected or likely noncitizens, leaving the state without a court order requiring their segregation. The unsigned, one-sentence order gave no explanation and noted no dissents. The court acted hours after the Justice Department filed its request and did not first seek a response from California. The ruling came one day before the midterm elections. The Justice Department asked the justices to require election officials to keep the ballots separate while litigation continued and citizenship status could be checked. The department argued that once the ballots were mixed with others, they could not be retrieved. The administration characterized segregation as a temporary measure, not a cancellation of votes. Lower courts had also declined to order California to separate the ballots. A divided Ninth Circuit panel cited the risk that eligible voters could be disenfranchised and that ballot tabulation could be disrupted. A federal district judge had criticized the government’s database and...