Supreme Court Rules Against DOJ Effort To Withhold 20,000 Ballots In California

Source: Jason Armond / Getty

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a request from the Trump administration to make California withhold 20,000 ballots ahead of today’s midterm elections. 

AP reports that the court didn’t issue an explanation for its ruling, which is usually the norm in emergency filings. Even more notable is the fact that none of the justices appeared to dissent from the ruling. 

While the Supreme Court has made some dork-ass rulings this year regarding voter rights, its ruling on this issue isn’t terribly surprising. The Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s attempts to restrict mail-in voting this September, arguing that the changes came too close to the election and would inevitably disenfranchise thousands of voters. 

“The Court rejected Trump’s emergency request without even asking the other side to respond,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X. “Democracy won.”

Over the last month, the Justice Department has filed several lawsuits to force states like California and Washington to withhold ballots over concerns of non-citizen voters. The basis of those concerns is incredibly flimsy. Officials in Washington state have looked over the 400 names the Justice Department submitted and found several people to be U.S. citizens, with others having not voted since 1994.

The Justice Department’s effort to withhold ballots in California has also faced increased scrutiny. The Justice Department attempted to preempt a ruling by a district court judge by filing its case with an appeals court. The appeals court declined to rule because the district court judge didn’t have the opportunity to issue a ruling, but it expressed skepticism about the Justice Department’s allegations. 

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter eventually ruled against the Justice Department’s effort to withhold the 20,000 ballots in California. Carter wrote that the Trump administration’s request “would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens.”

An immigrant rights group filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department over the California ballots and was allowed to analyze the list of 20,000 names. In court filings, the group’s analysis found that thousands of the people on the list were U.S. citizens, and 40% of the names couldn’t be found on the state’s voter rolls. 

So yeah, it doesn’t appear this effort to prevent “non-citizen voting” is based on anything resembling hard evidence. 

The Trump administration has spent the last year and some change trying to interfere with the midterm elections by any means necessary. From nationwide redistricting efforts and executive orders to hamper mail-in voting to unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, the administration keeps trying and failing to disenfranchise voters to maintain power. 

Voting is underway, and we likely won’t know how it all shakes out until tomorrow. That said, the early data isn’t looking good for Republicans. This was supposed to be the least competitive midterms in a decade, but the GOP has done such a poor job that somehow the Senate is in play and races in deep red states like Kansas are competitive. 

It just goes to show that the GOP should’ve, you know, actually tried improving things instead of gerrymandering, trying to disenfranchise voters, and filing frivolous lawsuits to sow doubt in the outcome. 

SEE ALSO:

Trump’s Final Message Ahead Of Midterms: Look At My Reflecting Pool

DOJ Wants Sanctions On Immigrant Group Criticizing Voter Fraud Claims