Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to segregate California mail ballots

The Supreme Court on Monday denied a last-ditch request from the Trump administration to force California to set aside mail ballots from approximately 20,000 individuals alleged to be noncitizens. In a one-line, unsigned order, the court rejected the Justice Department’s petition for an emergency injunction, noting that it acted only on the federal government’s request without seeking a response from California election officials.

The denial follows lower court decisions that had already blocked the administration’s efforts. A U.S. district judge previously rejected a temporary restraining order, describing the administration’s process for identifying noncitizens as rife with uncertainty and errors. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently refused to order California election workers to segregate the ballots, prompting the Justice Department to seek Supreme Court intervention earlier in the day.

The legal dispute has unfolded during the final days of the 2026 midterm campaign season, with voting in California underway since early October and more than six million mail ballots already returned. The administration has demanded that ballots from alleged noncitizens be held until citizenship is confirmed, a move state officials criticized for risking the disenfranchisement of U.S. Citizens based on an inaccurate list.

Read the full story at CBS News.