White House seeks Supreme Court order to hold 20,000 California mail ballots

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Monday, asking the justices to order California to set aside approximately 20,000 mail ballots. The federal government argues these votes should not be counted until voter status is verified. The request was submitted the day before the midterm elections.

A divided panel of federal appeals court judges rejected the government's earlier request to remove the ballots. The panel upheld a lower court order that allowed the votes to remain in the count. The Justice Department now seeks a limited injunction to pause the process while the legal battle continues.

The federal government maintains that the list of voters includes individuals who may not be citizens. California officials counter that the list is unreliable and likely contains many U.S. citizens. The state notes that voting has been underway since early October for its roughly 23 million registered voters. Election officials state that finding and removing specific ballots now would be logistically impossible given that hundreds of thousands have already been processed.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote that the situation is urgent. "Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back," he stated. The Justice Department prioritized identifying noncitizen voters this year, a demographic that is rare in the state.

District Judge David O. Carter, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, previously denied the Justice Department's request. He warned that separating the ballots would "wreak havoc" on the elections. "If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger," Carter wrote.

The appeals court panel that ruled against the government included one judge appointed by Trump and one appointed by President Joe Biden. A third judge, also appointed by Trump, dissented, arguing that California's refusal to separate the ballots encouraged the violation of federal law. The Supreme Court has previously rejected the president's push to restrict mail ballots ahead of midterms.

The administration has secured several wins in emergency appeals during the president's second term. The current case involves a dispute over whether the ballots should be counted or held until the voters' citizenship status is confirmed.