# Appeals court rules against Trump — again — on California ballots 

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/appeals-court-rules-against-trump-again-on-california-ballots/
- Published: 2026-10-30T19:50:13+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T00:26:31+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hill (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6185093-trump-administration-california-ballots-ninth-circuit-appeals-court/
- Topics: Americas, Elections, Politics, World

## Key points

- Appeals court refused to order California to separate disputed postal ballots.
- Judges cited doubts about the voter list and risks to the count.
- The ruling did not determine the listed voters’ eligibility.

## Summary

A US appeals court ruled 2–1 on 30 October against the Trump administration’s emergency request to make California set aside postal ballots from roughly 20,000 registered voters whom federal officials identified as likely non-citizens. The Justice Department wanted officials to check those voters’ citizenship before counting their ballots in the 3 November midterm election. California disputed the reliability of the federal list. The Ninth Circuit had dismissed an earlier appeal because the district court had not yet ruled; this time, it considered the request after a district judge had denied it.

The majority said the government had not shown that the law and facts clearly justified such an order during an election already under way. It also upheld the district court’s finding that California could not safely identify and separate the ballots without risking serious disruption to vote processing and potentially excluding eligible voters. Dissenting Judge Patrick Bumatay argued that separating the ballots would allow citizenship checks while protecting lawful votes. The decision denied emergency relief; it did not establish whether any of the people on the federal list were ineligible to vote. The Supreme Court subsequently declined the administration’s emergency request to intervene.

## Coverage

- [The Hill: Appeals court rules against Trump — again — on California ballots ](https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6185093-trump-administration-california-ballots-ninth-circuit-appeals-court/)
- [US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: United States v. California, No. 26-7231](https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2026/10/30/26-7231.pdf)
- [CBS News: Supreme Court rejects Trump's effort to force California to separate mail ballots from alleged noncitizens](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-rejects-trump-california-mail-ballots-alleged-noncitizens/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.