USAupdated 1h ago3 min read
Archive photo · 13 August 20269th Circuit Rejects Trump DOJ Bid To Set Aside 20,000 California Mail Ballots
“politicizing and weaponizing the law”
“The 9th Circuit’s rejection of the appeal was largely expected.”
Photo: ArielGlenn, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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9th Circuit rejected the DOJ's bid to set aside about 20,000 California ballots alleged to be from noncitizens. Court could not hear the appeal, preventing override of a lower-court ruling.
DOJ vs California ballots
A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s emergency bid to force California to set aside votes from 20,000 people the Justice Department claims are noncitizens, sending the case back to the US District Court in California.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel denied the DOJ’s emergency appeal after a Zoom hearing, and the majority said, “The United States’s claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.”
Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, and Judge Gabrial Sanchez, a Biden appointee, ruled that the appeals court lacked authority to rule on the DOJ lawsuit before the district court addressed the matter.
Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented, and the decision set a Tuesday hearing at 4 p.m. ET in the district court.
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit 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.
Judges question jurisdiction
The 9th Circuit panel questioned whether the Trump administration’s request to intervene in California’s ongoing midterm election violated states’ constitutional authority over elections, and the panel did not issue a ruling with a decision expected soon.
Judge Mark J. Bennett said the state had the right to determine the manner of its elections under the Elections Clause, and he asked, “How can we do that?”
Matthew Donnelly, a Justice Department attorney, argued the Trump administration had good reason to believe the ballots were from ineligible noncitizen voters, and he said federal criminal law and state election law bar noncitizen voters from casting ballots.
Bennett also questioned how the appellate court had jurisdiction while the district court had not yet issued an order, and he said, “I don’t see how we have jurisdiction.”
California Deputy Solicitor Gen. Samuel P. Siegel told the court there was “nothing” for the appellate court to review because there had been no fact finding and no order out of the lower court.
State backlash and next steps
California’s attorney general Rob Bonta rebuked the Trump administration’s efforts to quash alleged noncitizen voting, calling it “politicizing and weaponizing the law.”
Bonta said the Justice Department acted at Donald Trump’s direction, and he told MS Now, “It is once again the United States Department of Justice politicizing and weaponizing the law to attack its enemies, and it is completely improper,”.
The Justice Department had called on California election officials to verify within 48 hours a list of about 20,000 ballots belonging to suspected noncitizens, and the Guardian reported Los Angeles officials said a “high percentage” of the individuals on the list were born in the United States.
The Guardian also reported Gavin Newsom posted, “Trump’s DOJ is so desperate to invent ‘widespread voter fraud,’ it sent California counties lists of people who NEVER voted – and voters from the WRONG COUNTY. Absolute clown show!”
The appeals court’s ruling left the case headed back to the district court, where a Tuesday hearing was scheduled, and the Democracy Docket reported the DOJ could further escalate by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.