The Trump administration has appealed to the Supreme Court, requesting that California officials set aside approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots that the administration claims were sent to noncitizens. The emergency application was filed on Monday, the day before the midterm elections.
In a filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that "Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back." He stated that the only way to preserve the possibility of granting relief after a full review is to "segregate the challenged ballots now," describing the request as a "modest remedy."
The appeal follows a decision by a divided Ninth Circuit panel that rejected the Justice Department's bid to impound the ballots. The department had previously sent a list of 20,000 names to Los Angeles County election officials in October. County officials indicated that only 7,035 of those names had Los Angeles County addresses, and some individuals on the list were confirmed U.S. citizens.
The California Post has reached out to the offices of Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta for comment.