Shell Davis

SCOTUS betrayed America on Monday evening by rejecting the Trump administration’s emergency request to set aside thousands of California mail ballots flagged as likely noncitizens. The Court issued a one-line order with no noted dissents and let California keep counting the disputed ballots the day before Election Day. The Justice Department had asked the Court to segregate ballots from roughly 20,000 people it identified as likely noncitizens on California’s voter rolls until citizenship could be verified. Lower courts had already refused. A district judge called the government’s list riddled with uncertainty and errors. The Ninth Circuit agreed and cited the Purcell principle against last-minute changes to election rules. California does not require proof of citizenship to register or vote. It accepts mail ballots that arrive days after Election Day. The administration’s request was an attempt to force basic verification on a system that has none. SCOTUS declined to intervene. The ballots stay in the count. Noncitizen voting is illegal under federal law. Letting potentially ineligible ballots be counted without segregation makes verification impossible after the fact. The Court just made that outcome more likely.