US Supreme Court rejects Trump's bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots from suspected non-citizens on midterms eve
Every court to have ruled on the administration's ballot challenges — district, appeals and now the Supreme Court — has turned the government down.
The Supreme Court dismissed the Trump administration's emergency application in a single unsigned line, without requesting any response from California officials — a striking indication of how swiftly the justices dispensed with the matter. Three lower courts had previously turned down the same bid, with district judge David Carter concluding that the administration's approach to identifying suspected non-citizens was 'rife with uncertainty and errors.'
A separate federal judge in Washington, James Boasberg, ruled on the same day that dozens of confirmed US citizens appeared on the DOJ's list, with circumstantial evidence suggesting thousands more were included.
DHS officials, armed, had earlier delivered letters to California county election workers threatening criminal charges should they refuse to segregate the ballots.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the Supreme Court had 'firmly slapped down' the DOJ's attack 'not even entertaining it', as the ruling effectively ends Trump's legal bid ahead of Tuesday's midterms.
