Supreme Court Acts Without California Response

The Supreme Court denied the administration’s emergency ballot request without first asking California to respond. The order left in place lower-court rulings against forcing California to segregate mail ballots tied to about 20,000 voters the administration said might be noncitizens. The administration sought the order in the final days before the midterm election, arguing that unlawful ballots could dilute eligible voters’ votes. Federal law bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The Justice Department said a temporary hold would allow citizenship checks. California officials said the list had errors and could pull eligible voters into a process that disrupted ballot counting. The unsigned order gave no explanation or noted dissent.