Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid to Set Aside Thousands of California Ballots Before Election Day

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's emergency request to force California to separate about 20,000 ballots the federal government says were cast by noncitizens, hours before the final day of voting in the midterm elections. The order was a single sentence with no explanation, and there appear to have been no dissents. California and Los Angeles County election officials said the administration's list was unreliable, finding that many people on it were U.S.-born citizens. The administration acknowledged the list had inaccuracies but still demanded compliance. The Justice Department sued California late last month. Last week U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled against the administration, writing that the federal government had never before, on the eve of an election, tried to coerce a state and local government into abandoning its own constitutional election procedures, and that California and its people are sovereign too. The Supreme Court's action leaves his ruling in place. Voters were set to decide control of Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with more than 57 million ballots already cast early, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab.

The New Republic, the left-leaning outlet covering the story, leads with the ruling itself and frames it as a major loss for Trump, calling the effort a voter suppression scheme. It features Judge Carter's strongly worded opinion, the comparison to a monarchy, the election officials' findings about U.S.-born citizens on the list, and the administration's admission of errors. AP, listed among the alternative sources, reports the same ruling more plainly, stressing that it came hours before the final day of voting and that the claim of noncitizen voters is the federal government's. Straight Arrow News gives it only a brief mention in an Election Day roundup, calling it a setback for the administration alongside Trump's closing speech, early-vote totals and new U.S. strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had.