Appeals Court Rejects Trump Administration Bid To Impound California Ballots

Court blocks ballot impound

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s effort to order California officials to set aside more than 20,000 mail-in ballots, calling the notion unconstitutional and warning that entertaining the government’s requests would trample California’s authority over its election procedures. The majority wrote, “We decline the United States’s invitation to contravene the Elections Clause by undermining the Constitution’s plain text,” and it described the ruling as a “significant blow for the Trump administration’s escalating efforts to subvert the midterms.” The appeals court panel ruled in a 2-to-1 vote and quoted the order’s line that “undermining the Constitution’s plain text” would result if the court accepted the administration’s demand.

A federal judge in California denied the Justice Department’s emergency request to have California segregate roughly 20,000 ballots and quoted Judge David Carter’s warning that the effort would “wreak havoc” on midterm elections. Judge David Carter wrote, “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government,” as the Justice Department said it would immediately appeal.

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DOJ seeks Supreme Court

The DOJ was expected to immediately appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after the appeals court rejected the bid to block some California ballots.

The administration could now ask the Supreme Court to intervene, while noting that justices have long held that federal courts should not change balloting rules on the eve of an election.

Prosecutors for the Justice Department told the court they would immediately appeal the decision after Judge David Carter denied the request to segregate ballots.

The Trump administration started its threats in California by suing the state on Oct. 15 after it set a slim 48-hour deadline for state officials to review and set aside ballots from a list of 20,000 people the administration suspects are noncitizens illegally registered to vote.

The lawsuit became part of an escalating, multipronged effort by the Trump administration in recent weeks to argue that elections are marred by votes from noncitizens, and California officials argued the list of names provided by the Justice Department is riddled with errors.

Reporting for this sectionDemocracy DocketNew York Times

Election staff and voters

Judge David Carter’s order warned that segregating ballots at this time would require counties to develop new methods for sorting ballots and “risk disenfranchising an untold number of voters.”

Judge David Carter wrote that “Constitutional rights and our democracy are at stake,” and it quoted the judge’s view that individuals who met the requirements of California’s voter registration laws must not be deprived of a core right based on “unfounded allegations.”

The administration threatened criminal action over its noncitizen voting claims, issuing subpoenas to county election workers in California and charging 28 people with violating federal election laws.

The DOJ was similarly trying to force Washington state to segregate ballots from hundreds of people it alleges are noncitizens, and Trump officials were also suing Alaska to block certification of the state’s marquee U.S. Senate race if the Democratic candidate wins.

The Justice Department widened its investigations into the election in California by issuing federal grand jury subpoenas to local election officials, while the union representing California election workers filed suit accusing the Justice Department of “unprecedented and unlawful threats.”

Reporting for this sectionABC7 Los AngelesNew York Times