The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's emergency bid to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail ballots cast by people the administration alleges are noncitizens, clearing the final legal obstacle before Election Day. The justices acted in a brief, unsigned order that denied the Justice Department's request for an injunction — and did so without waiting to hear from California election officials first.

The fight had moved fast. A federal appeals court declined to intervene in a 2-to-1 vote on Friday, and lower courts had already ruled against the administration before that. The Justice Department then rushed an emergency application to the Supreme Court just two days before polls opened, arguing that county registrars needed to pull the roughly 20,000 ballots from the count while their eligibility was sorted out.

A disputed number

California election officials have disputed the administration's characterization of the ballots, and independent experts and state officials say noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare in practice. CalMatters reports that the 20,000 figure comes from an administration cross-check of voter files against other government databases, a method election officials in the state say regularly flags eligible, naturalized citizens along with any genuine noncitizen registrations.

THE JUSTICES DENIED THE REQUEST WITHOUT ASKING CALIFORNIA TO RESPOND.

Several outlets note the order leaves some ambiguity about the underlying lawsuit's fate. The Washington Post reports the ruling technically does not end the California case outright, even though it appears to be the final word before Tuesday's vote. The Hill notes the challenge was one of several last-minute legal pushes the administration mounted in battleground and blue states alike as control of Congress hung in the balance.

California's ballots will now be counted along with every other vote cast in the state, with any eligibility disputes over individual registrations to be handled through the state's existing voter-roll processes rather than a blanket court order.

What's next: With the legal avenue closed off, attention shifts to the count itself. Polls across the country opened Tuesday morning in a midterm election that will decide control of both chambers of Congress, and California's results — like every other state's — will be tabulated under the normal rules, not the emergency injunction the administration sought.