A voter drops a mail-in ballot into an official drop box inside City Hall during the primary election in San Francisco, California, Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A U.S. appeals court on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s request to temporarily block the counting of California mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 midterm elections by more than 20,000 registered voters who the Trump administration said were likely noncitizens.
The ruling marks the second time this week that the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department in the case.
The decision comes as President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans are fighting to maintain a majority in both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. The Trump administration had sought to pressure state election officials over alleged non-referendum votes, but all available evidence shows that such occurrences are extremely rare.
In a 2-1 decision denying the Justice Department’s request to block California’s vote counting pending litigation, a panel of 9th Circuit judges pointed to a lower court’s finding that the Trump administration’s list may not be fully reliable.
Federal Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, appointed during President Trump’s first term, and Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, said that “granting the relief requested by the United States runs a significant risk of disenfranchisement.”
The lawsuit, filed Oct. 15 by the Justice Department, asks a federal judge to order California to separate ballots received from people on the administration’s list and not count them until the people who voted are confirmed to be citizens.
On October 28, U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the Trump administration’s request for a temporary restraining order, saying it would “wreak havoc” on the election and could disenfranchise thousands of legally registered voters.
California said the state’s safeguards against noncitizen voters are strong. The department said the Justice Department’s claims rely on “questionable data” and that complying with the Justice Department’s request risks disenfranchising voters.
