Supreme Court denies DOJ request to intervene in California ballot case

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 2, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from the Justice Department to intervene in its effort to have California set aside the ballots of 20,000 voters who the Trump administration argues could be noncitizens who illegally cast votes.

The unanimous, unexplained order came hours after the DOJ made the request and just before the votes are counted in the midterm elections. It was the latest maneuver in the fast-moving, high-profile effort by the administration to insert itself in state voting procedures. The application asked the justices for an emergency order for the state to set aside those ballots until the voters’ citizenship could be determined.

“In this case, this Office is informed that the Executive Branch has identified over 20,000 individuals who appear to be registered to vote in California based on publicly accessible information and who, based on the Executive Branch’s review, are likely not U.S. citizens,” the application said.

The request followed a ruling by a federal judge in California that the lawsuit likely violated several civil rights laws and improperly inserted the federal government in state election procedures.

A separate panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit turned aside an appeal of that ruling Friday.

The Justice Department filed the lawsuit last month, days after state officials had refused to take a flash drive the administration said included the names of the purported noncitizens. The DOJ argued that it had compiled the 20,000 names of alleged noncitizens and that state officials should impose additional requirements before allowing their votes to be counted.

State officials have argued that there is no federal role in the state election and that there was no evidence the voters had actually returned ballots or weren’t citizens.

The application came amid multiple last-minute efforts from the Trump administration to weigh in on state election processes, including a similar letter to Washington state officials and a lawsuit seeking to delay the certification of the Alaska Senate contest due to the presence of two similarly named candidates on the ballot.

The Trump administration has more broadly sought to assert a greater federal role in state authority over elections, dovetailing with President Donald Trump’s evidence-free claims of widespread voter fraud. The push started shortly after Trump began his second term, with an executive order seeking to require proof of citizenship to vote nationwide. That order was largely stopped by the courts.

Separately, the Justice Department sought private records of voters across dozens of states, another effort that was rejected by the courts.

Additionally, earlier this year Trump issued an executive order seeking to curb mail voting nationwide and force states to provide mail officials with lists of eligible voters. That was also stopped by the Supreme Court.

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