Supreme Court Declines to Halt California Ballot Counting Days Before Election

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the Department of Justice a final emergency request to intervene in California’s election administration on Monday evening. The decision arrives hours before Tuesday’s Election Day, leaving state officials free to process ballots without federal mandates to segregate specific voters.

The dispute began with a federal lawsuit in which the Justice Department sought to stop California from counting ballots from 20,000 individuals it classified as likely noncitizens. District Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, initially rejected the federal government’s position. He described the department's actions as part of a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials.

Following a loss in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ appealed directly to the Supreme Court. The department argued that citizenship for these 20,000 voters needed verification before their ballots could be counted. However, lower courts had already ruled that the federal list was unreliable and that creating a new system to segregate ballots during an active election was infeasible.

In a Friday ruling, 9th Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez denied the emergency request. The pair cited the Purcell principle, which discourages changing election rules immediately before an election. They also pointed to the National Voter Registration Act, which restricts states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election. Judge Patrick Bumatay, the third member of the panel, dissented.

Data analysis conducted over the weekend complicates the DOJ's claim. Researchers at UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, granted access to the federal list through a separate court order, found that 42% of the names did not appear on California’s current voter roll. The study also identified naturalized citizens among those flagged by the federal government. County election officials noted that many listed individuals did not have active registrations or receive mailed ballots.

The Supreme Court’s refusal follows a series of aggressive moves by the Justice Department. In recent weeks, the agency issued subpoenas to California election officials and warned them of potential criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible votes. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order late Friday, barring the administration from threatening or coercing state officials over the ballot count. The federal government has appealed that order.

The rejection of the high court appeal maintains the status quo for Tuesday’s vote. State officials will continue processing ballots according to existing procedures while the underlying legal challenges regarding the DOJ’s list proceed in lower courts.