Justice department had ordered state to segregate and not count 20,000 ballots from people it claims are non-citizens

• US midterms – live updates

The supreme court on Monday ruled against the Trump administration and its attempts to force California election officials to segregate and not count ballots from people that the justice department claims are non-citizens. The ruling follows several lower courts siding with California officials, who argued the federal government was seeking to interfere in state elections.

The court did not issue an explanation for its ruling, which is customary in cases that come to it on an emergency basis. There were no noted dissents from the justices.