Judge Rejects Justice Department Bid to Block California From Counting More Than 20,000 Mail Ballots; a Supreme Court Fight May Come Before Tuesday

One of the last court fights of the 2026 midterms is over ballots that have already been cast in California. A federal judge earlier this week rejected the Justice Department's request to block California from counting mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters the department alleges are likely noncitizens, Reuters reported in a file opened and read directly by the desk this run. A federal appeals court had already denied an earlier emergency request from the department.

The administration is not done. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told Fox News the fight will likely go to the Supreme Court, Reuters reported - in his words, he hesitated to give a final answer, but the Supreme Court was probably next, and any request would come before Tuesday's election. California has said its safeguards against noncitizen voting, which is illegal, are robust.

The case is one of two election-law fronts the administration is pressing in the final days, alongside its criminal investigation in Alaska's Senate race - the race whose certification lawsuit a judge dismissed in a ruling the desk covered Sunday (SQ-20261101-065). Together they mean the courts, not just the campaigns, will be part of how Tuesday's results are received in the closest states.

The stakes underneath the litigation are the ones Reuters laid out in the same file: 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats are on the ballot Tuesday. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority and a narrow House edge, and losing either chamber would let Democrats block the president's agenda for his final two years and open investigations of the administration.