California Supreme Court to hear Bianco ballot seizure case Aug. 24 in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KESQ) The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Aug. 24 in the case over Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's seizure of ballots cast in the November 2025 special election, according to the court's online docket.

The docket entry, dated July 31, orders the case to be argued Monday, Aug. 24, at 10 a.m. in San Francisco.

The docket also shows Justice Gordon Burns was assigned as a justice pro tempore in the case.

The case, Attorney General v. Bianco, stems from Bianco's seizure of ballots from the November 2025 election, which he has said was part of an investigation into whether they were fraudulently counted. As News Channel 3 previously reported, the Supreme Court granted Attorney General Rob Bonta's petition for review April 8 and issued an emergency order directing Bianco to pause the investigation and preserve all seized materials. Bonta and Bianco then jointly asked a Riverside Superior Court judge to freeze the parallel local case while the high court resolves the dispute.

The docket shows the court later ordered both sides to address the effect of Senate Bill 73 on the issues in the case, and attorneys for Bonta and Bianco each filed letter briefs on the bill in June.

News Channel 3 has reached out to the court's public information office for details on the session, and will have more tonight on this story at 4, 5, 6, and 6:30pm.