Day before election, Trump’s DOJ asks US Supreme Court to rule in California voting case

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to require California to set aside the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in a last-ditch appeal by the Trump administration to exert control over the state’s vote counting.

The appeal came on the eve of Election Day and as more than 5 million mail ballots have already been cast in California, a state where voters are expected to elect dozens of Democrats to the U.S. House.

In the Trump administration’s emergency appeal, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer noted that federal law prohibits voting by noncitizens. “Yet despite that prohibition, aliens sometimes register to vote, and do vote, in our elections,” Sauer wrote.

“Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back,” Sauer wrote.

The Justice Department sued California in October, alleging that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had identified 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters. California officials raised concerns about the veracity of the list, and declined to take action based on it.

State and local officials also argued the Trump administration was exceeding its authority because states administer elections under the U.S. Constitution.

A district court judge and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals have both ruled against the Trump administration in the case.

This is a developing report and will be updated.