US court rules against Trump administration in California voting case

A United States appeals court has ruled against the administration of President Donald Trump in its bid to block the state of California from counting certain mail-in ballots this election cycle.In a decision on Monday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from the government to sequester roughly 20,000 mailed ballots ahead of the November 3 midterm election.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US appeals court sceptical of Trump’s lawsuit over California voter rollslist 2 of 3All you need to know about US midterms 2026list 3 of 3US judge blocks federal operations seeking to identify non-citizen votersend of listThe Trump administration had asserted that the ballots were sent to people who are “likely” non-citizens.But it has not publicly revealed how it created its list or determined that the voters identified upon it were ineligible due to their citizenship status.In a two-to-one decision, the appeals court said the Trump administration had not given lower courts enough time to review the case. It therefore declined to stop California’s ballot tabulation.The court’s majority also underscored that election administration was the state’s responsibility unde...