A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration that it intervene in a lawsuit against California and declined to immediately order the state to set aside as many as 20,000 mail-in ballots that the administration claimed had been provided to noncitizens. By a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that it was too early for the appeals court to take up the case because a lower court judge had not yet considered it, refusing the Trump administration’s effort to rush the case by leapfrogging a district court judge.
The ruling came as the federal government waged an increasingly coercive pressure campaign against California, attempting to enlist the state in its hunt for instances of voter fraud and sowing doubt about the security of its voter registration processes. In the order on Monday, which did not address the underlying merits of the Trump administration’s claims, Judge Mark J. Bennett, who was appointed by President Trump, joined with Judge Gabriel P.
Sanchez, who was appointed by Joseph R. They wrote that the Justice Department “failed to allow” a lower court the “adequate opportunity” to consider the case, rushing an appeal before a district court judge could hold a hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday. While the ruling was only an incremental setback for the Trump administration, the appeals court had already flashed skepticism about the lawsuit during an emergency hearing on Sunday — suggesting skepticism about the ultimate success of the administration’s gambit in California.
In the opinion, they noted that an eleventh hour ruling would also “undoubtedly” interfere with the state’s ability to administer the midterm election. Both Judge Bennett and Judge Sanchez lobbed tough questions at a government lawyer about its justifications for asking California to screen ballots and the extreme urgency it had claimed in the lawsuit. Monday’s order emphasized that the Trump administration had lodged its appeal even though there were still days to spare before the deadline the government had initially set in requesting court action.
When it filed the lawsuit against California, the Justice Department asked the lower court to reach a preliminary decision in the case by Election Day, Nov. 3. In court filings, the Justice Department indicated that it had come up with the list of about 20,000 names by comparing some California voter roll data with a federal immigration database, matching names and checking for overlaps that would indicate that people listed at one point as noncitizens in federal data had also appeared as registered voters. California officials have complained that the administration has been vague about its exact process for coming up with the names and the list includes errors.
It is already illegal under state and federal law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections in California. Voters are required to attest they are citizens when registering. In July, officials had claimed to have found as many as 270,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in Nevada, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
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