US Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots

The US Supreme Court has rejected a bid by the Trump administration to set aside over 20,000 mail-in ballots in California, on the grounds that they may not be from American citizens. The decision came a day before the US midterm elections, and the court's unsigned, one-sentence ruling provided no reasoning for the decision. The federal government had previously accused California of having 190,000 illegal voters on its rolls, which was later revised to 20,000.

The DOJ filed an emergency lawsuit to prevent the state from sending ballots to these individuals, but lower courts had already rejected the demand multiple times. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that once challenged ballots are mixed with lawful ones, there is no way to retrieve the challenged ballots. The case reflects the Trump administration's ongoing pattern of attempted election interference, as noted by US District Judge David Carter.