Justice Department Says Its Fight Over California Mail Ballots Will Likely Reach the Supreme Court
Two days before an election that will decide control of Congress, the Trump administration says it will likely ask the Supreme Court to step into its fight over more than 20,000 California mail ballots, after a federal judge and an appeals court both declined to block the state from counting them.
The Trump administration said on Saturday it would likely take its fight over thousands of California mail ballots to the Supreme Court, Reuters reported, in one of several legal battles running alongside the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday's midterm elections. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told Fox News he hesitated to give a final answer but thought the Supreme Court was probably next, and that any request would come before Tuesday's election, according to Reuters.
The fight concerns mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered California voters whom the Justice Department alleges are likely noncitizens. A federal judge earlier this week rejected the department's request to block California from counting those ballots, after a federal appeals court denied an earlier emergency request, Reuters reported. California has said its safeguards against noncitizen voting, which is illegal, are robust.
The California case is one of the legal fights shadowing an election in which 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats are on the ballot Tuesday. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority and a narrow edge in the House, and more than 52 million Americans have already voted in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab — a record for a midterm, Reuters reported.
