The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the Supreme Court on Nov. 2 to order California to sequester about 20,000 mail ballots the department says likely belong to noncitizens, a day before Election Day.
The emergency application comes after a federal district judge, and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, turned down the request.
“Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back,” the DOJ said in its new filing.
California officials dispute the accuracy of the list compiled by the DOJ.
The Trump administration has asked the nation’s highest court to direct California to temporarily set aside the ballots from individuals on its list, and hold off on counting them until the voters can be verified as U.S. citizens.
Reuters contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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