In a decisive ruling, the Supreme Court has swiftly denied a request from the Trump administration aimed at segregating approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots in California, which the administration claims might have been cast by noncitizens. Local officials have firmly disputed this assertion.
The court’s decision came through a brief order issued without further explanation, rejecting the emergency plea that had been filed just hours earlier. This development follows a series of lower court rulings that also favored California’s stance against the federal government’s intervention.
Remarkably, the court acted without soliciting input from California officials, a standard practice in such urgent matters. The state’s officials had previously resisted federal efforts, emphasizing that voting by noncitizens is already prohibited under state law, and they questioned the accuracy of the federal claims.
In a separate but related issue, the Trump administration has cautioned California election officials about the potential for prosecution if noncitizens are allowed to vote. However, a federal judge recently instructed the Justice Department to cease such threats, highlighting the delicate balance of power between state and federal jurisdictions regarding election oversight.
The Trump administration argues that a federal law bars noncitizen voting, granting them grounds to intervene in state election processes. Nonetheless, experts have consistently pointed out that instances of noncitizen voting are exceedingly rare in the United States.
Despite the administration’s claims of confirmed noncitizen registrations in various states, including Nevada, local responses have countered these assertions, insisting that those identified are indeed citizens. In California, the process of validating mail-in ballots involves checking signatures against voter registration records, after which identifying information is discarded, complicating any retroactive verification of alleged noncitizen votes.
In its decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized that there is no evidence suggesting that Congress intended for federal laws regarding noncitizen voting to override state election regulations.
Photo credit: Kyle Grillot
