Ninth Circuit Blocks Justice Department Bid to Set Aside California Ballots

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice cannot force California to separate and set aside approximately 20,000 disputed ballots from the mid-term election.

The three-judge panel issued the decision by a vote of two to one. This ruling prevents federal authorities from removing those specific ballots from the count while they verify the citizenship status of the voters who cast them.

The dispute began when federal officials argued that California mailed ballots to individuals who might not be U.S. citizens. The Justice Department sought to isolate these votes to prevent non-citizens from influencing the outcome. State election officials countered that the federal list is unreliable and likely includes many eligible citizens.

Judge Mark J. Bennett, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, authored the majority opinion. They joined a district court judge who had previously rejected the federal request, warning that the Department of Justice's demands could disenfranchise citizens.

The appeals court agreed with the lower court's finding that no viable method exists to identify and remove specific ballots without causing potentially catastrophic effects on the entire voting system.

Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed in California. Election officials note that these votes are fully anonymized, meaning they cannot be linked back to the individual voters who submitted them.

On Friday morning, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration to share the disputed list of names with attorneys from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. This is the first time outside organizations will be able to examine the list to evaluate its impact on eligible voters.

The legal battle continues as the government issues subpoenas in Alaska and sends similar lists to Washington state officials. In Los Angeles, federal prosecutors have warned that election officials who knowingly process non-citizen ballots face legal risks. Subpoenas have been sent to Los Angeles County election officials, and at least three officials have been asked to appear before a grand jury on November 4, the day after the election.

Labor unions, including the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, filed a separate suit on Friday. They seek a temporary block on Justice Department demands that local officials stop counting ballots and on threats of criminal prosecution for those who do not comply.