Supreme Court allows California to count disputed ballots

The Supreme Court on Monday evening denied a last-minute request from the Department of Justice to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots from about 20,000 voters. The Department of Justice suggested these individuals may not be U.S. citizens.

The Legal Battle

The Department of Justice filed its petition with the Supreme Court on Monday, just a day before Election Day and three days after the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected its bid to overturn a lower court ruling. The department originally sued California on Oct. 15 in a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to prevent the tabulation of mail-in ballots from likely non-citizens until their citizenship status could be verified. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the Supreme Court application that the United States is likely to succeed on its appeal and suffers an injury to its sovereignty from the violation of its laws.

Court Rulings

Last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the department's request to set aside the ballots, writing that the federal government sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their constitutional election procedures. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit then denied the appeal in a 2-1 ruling on Friday, with Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez warning of a material risk of voter disenfranchisement. On Sunday, a federal judge also dismissed a separate Department of Justice lawsuit regarding the U.S. Senate election in Alaska involving incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Context

Federal law bars non-citizens from voting in U.S. federal elections. Election disputes involving voter eligibility lists and ballot counting procedures frequently lead to emergency legal challenges right before polls open. The midterm elections determine which political parties hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.