““Justice Elena Kagan denied the appeal on the eve of the midterm elections without comment, and did not refer it to the other justices.” — Eric Mack, Louis Casiano, Bill Mears and Shannon Bream, Fox News, Nov. 2, 2026”
The claim: ““Justice Elena Kagan denied the appeal on the eve of the midterm elections without comment, and did not refer it to the other justices.” — Eric Mack, Louis Casiano, Bill Mears and Shannon Bream, Fox News, Nov. 2, 2026”
Why we rated it this way: The Supreme Court's docket for No. 26A624 shows the government's application was submitted to Justice Kagan on Nov. 2, then lists “Application (26A624) referred to the Court,” and records that the application “presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied.” So the denial came from the full Court, not from Kagan acting alone. Fox is right that the request was denied without explanation on the eve of the election, but the detail that she did not refer it to the other justices is the opposite of what the docket says.
See the evidenceWhat would change our rating: A corrected docket entry or a Court order showing Justice Kagan denied the application in her own name, without referral, would move this to Matches record.
Our read
The Supreme Court's docket for No. 26A624 shows the government's application was submitted to Justice Kagan on Nov. 2, then lists “Application (26A624) referred to the Court,” and records that the application “presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied.” So the denial came from the full Court, not from Kagan acting alone. Fox is right that the request was denied without explanation on the eve of the election, but the detail that she did not refer it to the other justices is the opposite of what the docket says.
Broadcast
Picture to come
Nov 2, 2026, 11:05 PM CST
Sources
Script
Narration script. If a face or a voice delivers this, the anchor is synthetic.
Late Check. Fox News reported Justice Kagan turned down the Trump administration's California ballot request without sending it to the other justices. The Supreme Court's own docket says she referred it to the full Court, and the Court denied it. Verdict: contradicted by the record.
Corrections
None on file.