Trump Administration Asks Court to Set Aside California Ballots

Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on November 2 to order California to set aside ballots associated with roughly 20,000 people on a federal list of suspected noncitizens, one day before the midterm election. The emergency application seeks to keep the ballots separate while officials verify voters’ citizenship and the court considers the case. The request followed losses in a federal district court and the Ninth Circuit, whose panel was divided. The administration also asked for an immediate administrative injunction while the justices review its application. Sauer argued that ballots must be segregated before they are mixed with other votes because, once commingled, they could not be recovered. That is the government’s justification for emergency relief; it has not been established as an independent finding about ballot handling. The federal list’s accuracy is disputed. The administration says its review identified people likely to be noncitizens, while California officials and election analysts have questioned whether the records reliably identify ineligible voters. Los Angeles County officials said only 7,035 names on the list had county addresses. A...