The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the Department of Justice's request to intervene in a dispute over California voter rolls, following a federal judge's order blocking the administration from demanding ballot segregation.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to intervene in an ongoing dispute with California regarding the state's voter rolls. The appeal sought injunctive relief to allow the federal government to demand that California set aside ballots from thousands of individuals the DOJ alleges are noncitizens.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an order enjoining the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from "issuing demands to California elections officials to compel the segregation of ballots, or other deviations from existing state elections procedures, based on voters’ inclusion on the lists of suspected non-citizens," according to a report by Democracy Docket.
In a separate order, U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued a temporary restraining order blocking the DOJ and DHS from demanding ballot segregation, voter purges, or halted ballot processing. Judge Thompson stated, "Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters," according to WION.
Prior to these rulings, a divided 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the DOJ's request to order California to stop processing the ballots of thousands of people. The panel, which included Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez, wrote, "[T]here is a material risk that granting the United States its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement and could jeopardize the County's entire election."
The DOJ claims it has identified 20,000 "likely" noncitizens on California's voter roll whose ballots should not be counted until their citizenship can be verified. However, the actual number of ballots in dispute may be smaller, as county officials found many individuals on the list did not have active registrations or were not mailed ballots.
Data scientists at the University of California Los Angeles' Voting Rights Project analyzed the DOJ's list and found that 42% of the names do not appear on California's current voter roll. The analysis also found naturalized citizens on the list, according to NPR.
The legal battle occurs one day before the 2026 midterm elections. California officials have argued that creating a system to segregate ballots while voting is underway is infeasible. California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated the federal appeal "reeks of desperation and is another attempt to undermine our elections and trample on the rule of law."
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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