WATCH LIVE MONDAY: California Supreme Court hears arguments in Bianco ballot seizure case at 10 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KESQ) The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday morning in two cases challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's seizure of ballots from the November 2025 special election — and the public can watch the entire hearing live.

Arguments begin at 10 a.m. at the Earl Warren Building in San Francisco. The court will livestream the session here.

The justices will hear Cervantes v. Bianco first, followed by Attorney General v. Bianco. Both cases stem from search warrants Bianco's deputies served on the Riverside County Registrar of Voters earlier this year, seizing what the Attorney General's office says was more than 650,000 voted ballots as part of the sheriff's investigation into the election.

In a statement released Sunday ahead of the hearing, Attorney General Rob Bonta called the seizure "an unlawful attempt to sow distrust and undermine public confidence in our elections," saying that "six months after my office intervened, we've seen no evidence that any elections crimes were committed that would support the Sheriff's warrants."

"Now, we hope that the Supreme Court will put an end to the destabilizing, political actions of this rogue sheriff for good," Bonta said.

Bianco has not been charged with any crime, and no court has ruled that he violated the law. The sheriff has defended the investigation as a lawful exercise of his authority, and his campaign called the Attorney General's challenge "pure lawfare" in a fundraising email last week. The election-skeptic group whose claims sparked the investigation told News Channel 3 it hopes the justices allow the probe to continue. Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco has disputed the group's claim of a roughly 45,000-vote discrepancy, saying the actual gap was 103 votes and attributing it to human error.

Solicitor General Sam Harbourt will argue both cases for the state. Bonta is arguing on both fronts: his office filed one case directly, and the court invited him to argue in support of the Riverside County residents who filed the other. Bonta plans to attend in person and take questions outside the courtroom afterward.

The court's April order pausing Bianco's investigation and requiring the seized ballots to be preserved remains in effect. The Sheriff's Department confirmed to News Channel 3 in June that it still has the ballots.

An appeals court justice, Gordon Burns, will sit temporarily with the six current justices to fill the seat left open by Justice Martin Jenkins' retirement.

Once arguments conclude, the court has 90 days to issue a decision — meaning a ruling is expected by late November.