# DOJ asks Supreme Court to block California ballots

> A day before Election Day, the Justice Department seeks emergency intervention over disputed voter registrations.
- Title: DOJ asks Supreme Court to block California ballots · NPR
- Summary: A day before Election Day, the Justice Department seeks emergency intervention over disputed voter registrations. The DOJ asked the Supreme Court to…
- Keywords: department of justice, california, supreme court, voter rolls, election administration, 2026 election, news, DOJ, asks, Supreme, Court, block
- Source: NPR — https://npr.org/2026/11/02/nx-s1-6023802/supreme-court-california-voting-ballots-trump
- Published: 2026-11-02T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: department of justice, california, supreme court, voter rolls, election administration, 2026 election, news
## DOJ seeks Supreme Court intervention
A day before Election Day, the Department of Justice filed an emergency appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in its dispute with California over voter registrations.
## Twenty thousand disputed voters
The DOJ says it has identified twenty thousand likely noncitizens on California's voter roll whose ballots should not be counted until their citizenship can be verified.
## Lower courts reject DOJ request
Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, and a divided ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the DOJ's request to order California to set aside ballots of disputed voters.
## Courts cite election law concerns
The ninth Circuit judges cited the Purcell principle, which bars changing election rules on the eve of an election, and the National Voter Registration Act, which bars removing voters within ninety days of a federal…

> [T]here is a material risk that granting the United States its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement and could jeopardize the County's entire election.
## DOJ list contains errors
UCLA's Voting Rights Project found that forty two percent of names on the DOJ's list do not appear on California's current voter roll, and the list includes naturalized citizens.
## Federal judge bars intimidation
A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from threatening or coercing election officials to stop processing ballots of registered voters.
## Key takeaway

The DOJ asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute with California over twenty thousand alleged noncitizens on voter rolls, after lower courts rejected its emergency requests.