Supreme Court Answers Justice Department’s Ballot Request in Two Words, Asks It to Stop Calling

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to set aside some 20,000 California mail ballots with a one-line order whose working part was two words long, “is denied,” and then politely asked the department to stop calling.

The order came down hours after the request was filed, which court staff said was mostly the time it took to find a pen.

“We had it typed before the fax machine stopped beeping,” said Marisol Fennimore-Quast, 58, a deputy clerk who has worked the emergency docket for 19 years. “Honestly, ‘is denied’ was the long version. There was a draft that was just a period.”

The ruling capped a week in which the department lost the same request before a federal judge in Los Angeles and a divided appeals panel, a run one Ninth Circuit courtroom deputy described as “perfect attendance.” Clerks at the high court said the department’s filings had begun arriving with a self-addressed envelope and the word “denied” already filled in, as a courtesy.

By Monday night, the court had updated its phone tree. Callers from the Justice Department now hear a recorded message: “If you are calling about the California ballots, press 1 to hear ‘is denied’ again. Press 2 to hear it more slowly.”

Department paralegal Brantley Ouderkirk, 33, said the team was already preparing a follow-up filing asking the justices to recount the two words, arguing they “appeared rushed” and may have included one word from a noncitizen.

“We just want every word verified,” Ouderkirk said. “We ran ‘denied’ through LexisNexis, and it doesn’t have a Social Security number.”

Officials later confirmed the follow-up had been received, stamped, and placed in a tray labeled “Press 1.”