California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has proven once again why it would be absurd to elect him president of the United States.
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!”
Earlier, U.S. Attorney for California Bill Essayli noted in an X post that an attorney for the state of California admitted during an appeals court proceeding that California election officials do count the votes of non-citizens.
“If you want to know why @GavinNewsom is behaving so bizarrely right now, it’s because he’s fighting overtime to count every illegal vote in the upcoming election,” he wrote.
“California admitted as much during the court proceedings in our case,” he said in a post that included a video clip of the proceedings and the admission.
The Supreme Court rejected an emergency request from the Trump administration on Monday seeking to segregate mail ballots from more than 20,000 California voters flagged as potential noncitizens.
The unsigned, one-sentence order came hours before Election Day and did not explain the justices’ decision.
No justice publicly dissented from the order, leaving California free to continue processing the disputed ballots under its existing election procedures.
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
If you want to know why @GavinNewsom is behaving so bizarrely right now, it’s because he’s fighting overtime to count every illegal vote in the upcoming election. California admitted as much during the court proceedings in our case.
He fights for illegals and noncitizens, and has disdain for American citizens.
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 31, 2026
The Justice Department had asked California to separate ballots associated with registered voters whom federal officials believe may not be American citizens.
Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and the administration argued segregation was necessary while officials investigated the voters’ citizenship status.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer warned that disputed ballots could become impossible to identify individually once they were mixed with other legally cast ballots.
“The only way to preserve the district court’s ability to grant relief” was to segregate those ballots immediately, Sauer argued.
The administration initially alleged approximately 190,000 potentially ineligible voters appeared on California’s rolls before narrowing its court request to more than 20,000.
California strongly disputed the federal government’s methodology and argued its lists could incorrectly identify eligible American citizens as potential noncitizens.
The Supreme Court’s decision followed several lower-court defeats for the administration during the final days before the midterms.
U.S. District Judge David Carter previously rejected the Justice Department’s request to force California to set aside the disputed ballots.
Carter warned that changing election procedures while voting was already underway could cause significant disruption and potentially disenfranchise eligible voters.
The Justice Department argued its request was considerably narrower and intended to preserve evidence while determining whether federal voting laws had been violated.
The administration also stressed that identifying someone as a potential noncitizen does not automatically establish that the person illegally registered or cast a ballot.
Another federal judge dealt the administration a setback Monday by rejecting its demands involving California’s handling of suspected noncitizen voters.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg concluded that federal lists being used to identify potential noncitizens contained significant problems and incorrectly flagged some voters.
California officials maintain the state already has procedures for checking voter eligibility and challenging registrations when credible evidence of ineligibility emerges.
The legal fight has become part of a broader Trump administration effort to investigate possible noncitizen voting and scrutinize state election records.
The Justice Department has pursued election-related litigation and investigations in multiple states as Tuesday’s midterms approached.
Administration officials argue those efforts are necessary to enforce federal election laws and prevent ballots from being illegally cast.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
