By Fatma Younis
A federal judge in California has denied a Justice Department request to force state election officials to segregate ballots from voters the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens. U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled Wednesday evening that the department's emergency motion was legally thin and appeared designed to cast doubt on the midterm election results.
Justice Department's Emergency Motion
The Justice Department delivered a USB drive to election officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento about two weeks before the ruling, asserting it contained the names of 20,000 non-citizens on California's voter rolls. The department gave officials 48 hours to review the list and threatened to sue if ballots from those individuals were not sequestered. California has more than 23 million registered voters, and non-citizen voting is extremely rare.
Judge's Ruling
In his ruling, Judge Carter, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote that the case concerns the right of every American citizen to vote in a free and fair election. He emphasized that never before has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state into abandoning its own constitutional election procedures. Carter also noted that California and its people are sovereign entities.
Appeal to Ninth Circuit
After Carter scheduled a hearing for October 27, the Justice Department took the unusual step of appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing the judge was not moving fast enough. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 against the department earlier this week.
Background and Skepticism
Legal experts have been skeptical of the Justice Department's efforts since July, when the Department of Homeland Security announced it had identified up to 190,000 non-citizens on California voter rolls but did not provide details until after ballots had been mailed. Election officials who reviewed the department's lists found inaccuracies, including flagged voters not on the rolls and insufficient information to verify citizenship status.
