The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to separate 20,000 mail-in ballots from California

The Supreme Court of the United States rejected on Monday the Donald Trump administration’s request to require California to set aside approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots cast by people whom federal authorities claim may not be U.S. citizens. The decision was issued one day before the midterm legislative elections scheduled for Tuesday, November 3.

The Supreme Court gave no explanation for declining to intervene, a common practice in cases involving emergency requests. The Trump administration had requested that the ballots be temporarily removed from the count until the voters’ status could be verified.

California authorities warned that the federal list contains errors and could include eligible U.S. citizens. The Justice Department acknowledged that the data may be inaccurate and that verification would be difficult, as hundreds of thousands of ballots had already been processed. In California, all approximately 23 million registered voters receive ballots by mail.

The ruling represents another defeat for the Trump administration, after a federal judge and an appeals court rejected the same request. The judges cited the risk of excluding lawful votes and emphasized that organizing elections is the responsibility of Congress and the states, not the executive branch.