By Salma El-Sakka
A federal judge in California on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department's emergency request to segregate roughly 20,000 ballots that the Trump administration claimed were cast by likely noncitizens.
U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote in his order that the federal government had never before sought to coerce a state into abandoning its constitutional election procedures on the eve of an election.
The Justice Department had argued the ballots belonged to individuals it deemed "likely" noncitizens, but the judge denied the request, calling it an unprecedented overreach by the executive branch.
The ruling comes as a developing story ahead of the midterm elections.
