Appeals Court Rejects DOJ Bid to Set Aside 20,000 California Mail Ballots

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's attempt to force California to set aside votes from 20,000 people it claims could be noncitizens. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-1 ruling turning away the Justice Department's emergency appeal, following arguments in an unusual emergency Sunday hearing held via Zoom, CNN reported.

Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, and Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, ruled that the appeals court did not have the authority to rule on the Justice Department lawsuit before the district court had addressed the matter. "The United States's claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one," the majority wrote, citing the department's own delay in filing suit. USA Today reported the panel noted the federal government gave the district court roughly 15 hours, including about three business hours, to act before asking the appeals court to step in. Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented, arguing the federal government must be allowed to stop noncitizens from voting.

The ruling decides procedure, not the underlying dispute. Bennett wrote separately that if the court had the authority, he would have ruled against the Justice Department on the merits: there is nothing in the federal law in question "that preempts the states' primary authority in election administration," he wrote, and the action sought "might result in immense hardship" by "risking the disenfranchisement of eligible voters and putting the entire tabulation process in jeopardy." Sanchez wrote that the proposed injunction "would transform California's election rules for an election that is already underway." California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the order is "an important step in our efforts to protect Californians' right to vote and our state's authority to run fair and secure elections."

The Justice Department sued earlier this month seeking to prevent California officials from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots associated with people the federal government says it believes are likely noncitizens. At Sunday's hearing, Sanchez pressed DOJ attorney Matthew Donnelly on how the list of 20,000 voters was built - sworn declarations cited "third-party data or reliable third-party analytics" that Donnelly could not detail - while Samuel Siegel, arguing for California, called the list "wildly outdated." The decision sends the case back to the US District Court in California, where a hearing is scheduled Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. Current ballot-handling procedures stay in place while it is fought out.