Setback for Trump: Supreme Court rejects bid to block California votes

Washington: The US Supreme Court has dealt a major setback to President Donald Trump’s administration, rejecting its last-ditch attempt to stop California from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to reports.

The court on Monday denied an emergency application by the Justice Department seeking to have the ballots set aside until the voters' citizenship could be verified. The federal government had identified the voters as people it believed were likely to be non-US citizens, but California challenged the list's accuracy and warned that the move could disenfranchise eligible voters.

The Supreme Court issued a one-sentence order without explaining its decision. No justice publicly dissented. The ruling followed earlier setbacks for the administration at the district court and the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta welcomed the decision, describing it as another legal victory against federal attempts to interfere in the state’s elections. Governor Gavin Newsom also hailed the ruling, saying it would reassure voters that the state could conduct a free and fair election.

The dispute centres on a 1996 federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 611, which makes voting by non-citizens in federal elections a criminal offence. The Justice Department accused California of obstructing enforcement of the law and sought to prevent the disputed ballots from being counted before citizenship checks were conducted.

California maintained that it had safeguards against non-citizen voting and that the federal list could contain errors. A federal judge in Los Angeles had also questioned the reliability of the government’s data, noting that people flagged in similar lists elsewhere had later been found to be naturalised US citizens.

The ruling comes as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress. California, a Democratic stronghold, has 52 seats in the House of Representatives.