California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to be our next president, but what he did on Monday less than 24 hours before the midterm elections proves he should never set foot in the Oval Office as leader of the free world.
On Monday, the likely 2028 White House contender celebrated a U.S. Supreme Court decision not to intervene after a lower federal court ruled the Trump administration cannot require his state to segregate ballots of more than 20,000 people suspected of being non-citizens.
“BREAKING: California just secured a HISTORIC Supreme Court defeat against Donald Trump,” Newsom wrote on the X platform.
“The Court rejected Trump’s emergency request without even asking the other side to respond — a first. Democracy won. VOTE!”
BREAKING: California just secured a HISTORIC Supreme Court defeat against Donald Trump.
The Court rejected Trump’s emergency request without even asking the other side to respond — a first.
Democracy won. VOTE! https://t.co/OJo7u3yiRP
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court rejected an emergency Trump administration request Monday seeking to segregate mail ballots connected to more than 20,000 California voters. The Justice Department described those individuals as “likely” noncitizens and wanted their ballots separated until officials could verify their citizenship status.
The Supreme Court denied the request in a brief unsigned order without explaining its reasoning, and no justice publicly dissented. The decision came one day before Tuesday’s midterm elections and followed several lower-court defeats for the administration.
The Justice Department argued that California should temporarily separate the disputed ballots rather than immediately combine them with ballots from other voters. “Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back,” DOJ argued.
Federal officials said the approximately 20,000 names resulted from a multiagency process using immigration records, data matching and additional verification procedures. DOJ told California officials last month that federal agencies reasonably believed the individuals were likely noncitizens registered to vote.
Noncitizens are prohibited under federal law from voting in federal elections, and DOJ argued California officials had been notified of potential violations. However, being identified through a database match does not establish that a person is actually a noncitizen or has illegally voted.
California officials disputed the accuracy of the federal government’s list and argued it contained substantial errors that could affect eligible American citizens. Los Angeles County reviewed 200 names and found more than half involved canceled or inactive registrations, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The county also found 38.9% of those reviewed listed a U.S. birthplace and 71.2% showed no voting history. California consequently argued that separating ballots based on the federal list could wrongly disenfranchise lawful voters during an election already underway.
The administration had originally alleged approximately 190,000 potential noncitizens were on California voter rolls before narrowing its allegations substantially. DOJ sued California on Oct. 15, arguing the state was obstructing enforcement of federal laws prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
The administration sought an order requiring California to segregate ballots associated with the disputed voters while their citizenship status was investigated. U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected the administration’s request last week and questioned the reliability of the federal government’s methodology.
Carter warned that forcing election officials to change procedures immediately before Election Day could disrupt voting and potentially affect eligible citizens.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently refused to grant the administration emergency relief, sending the dispute toward the Supreme Court. The fact that Newsom considered allowing non-citizens to vote a victory tells you everything about who and what he and his party have become: Staunch defenders of those who have no legal right to be in America at the expense of American citizens.
