White House seeks Supreme Court review

The Trump administration filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court on Monday to halt the counting of approximately 20,000 mail ballots in California. The federal government argues these votes should be excluded until the voters' citizenship status is confirmed. This move follows a rejection by a federal appeals court that previously denied the request to set aside the ballots.

The Justice Department is seeking a limited injunction to stop California from mixing the disputed ballots with verified ones. The department contends that the current process risks counting votes from individuals who may not be citizens. California officials counter that the federal list is unreliable and likely contains many valid U.S. citizens.

Voting in California began in early October. The state mails ballots to nearly all of its 23 million registered voters. Officials have already processed hundreds of thousands of these mail-in ballots. The state views the federal intervention as a disruptive measure that could complicate the tabulation process before the November 3 election.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the Justice Department's initial request in district court. Carter warned that segregating the ballots would cause significant operational issues. He wrote that if the executive branch can discount votes based on unproven claims, the democratic process faces danger. The lower court noted that noncitizen voters are rare in the state.

The Supreme Court has previously rejected a similar bid by the administration to restrict mail ballots before midterms. The current appeal represents the latest attempt to influence the November 3 vote. The justices must now decide whether to intervene in the state's ongoing election process.