White House asks Supreme Court to pause counting of 20,000 California ballots

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Monday, asking the justices to stop California from counting approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots. The federal government argues that these specific votes should be excluded from the tally until it can verify the citizenship status of the individuals who cast them. This legal bid comes one day before the midterm elections, when Americans will determine control of Congress.

The request follows a rejection by a federal appeals court, which previously denied the Justice Department's attempt to set aside the disputed votes. The administration maintains that the ballots in question belong to people who may not be U.S. citizens. California officials counter that the list of suspected noncitizens is unreliable and likely contains many valid American voters.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the high court that time is short. He stated, "Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back." The Justice Department is seeking a limited injunction that would direct the state to separate these 20,000 ballots while the legal case proceeds.

Voting in California began in early October. The state mails ballots to all roughly 23 million registered voters, and hundreds of thousands of those ballots have already been processed. Because the state has a largely Democratic electorate, the outcome of the ballot counting could influence the final results of the midterm race.

Lower court judges have so far sided with the state against the federal government. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, issued a forceful denial of the Justice Department's initial request. Carter warned that the federal demand could disenfranchise citizens and erode trust in the democratic process. He wrote, "If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger."

A district court judge also cautioned that segregating the ballots would "wreak havoc" on the election. The Justice Department has tried to move the case along quickly, including an unsuccessful push for an appeals court to intervene early. The Supreme Court has granted emergency appeals to the Trump administration in the past, but the justices previously rejected the president's effort to restrict mail ballots ahead of this same midterm cycle.