US Supreme Court rejects Trump's last-ditch bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots his administration says were cast by non-citizens

Three courts — including two federal appeals courts — had already rejected the Justice Department's bid before the Supreme Court issued a one-line, unsigned denial on Monday with no noted dissents. Justice Elena Kagan handled the application and referred it to the full court, which denied it without requesting California to file a response.

District judge David Carter had called the DOJ's process for identifying alleged non-citizens 'rife with uncertainty and errors,' with the government conceding its own list contained significant mistakes.

A separate federal judge in Washington also ruled it was 'likely' the Trump administration was wrong to pressure states over noncitizen voting, blocking further DOJ action.

Once the 20,000 ballots are counted and combined with others they cannot be separated, the DOJ had argued — but courts said disenfranchising eligible voters posed the greater risk.