Ninth Circuit skeptical of DOJ California ballot bid
A federal appeals panel pushed back Sunday on a Justice Department bid to freeze about 20,000 California mail ballots, NBC News and the Los Angeles Times reported. Judges have not ruled. The state says the federal name list is flawed.
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard emergency arguments Sunday on the Trump Justice Department's bid to keep California from counting about 20,000 mail ballots. NBC News, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Post reported the hearing. The department says the ballots may have been sent to people it calls likely noncitizens. The judges have not issued a ruling.
Bill Essayli, the US attorney for the Central District of California, has pressed state and local officials to help identify people on a federal list of about 20,000 names. The New York Post quoted him scorning California's response after the hearing. California officials say the state's safeguards against noncitizen voting are strong. They also say the Justice Department relied on weak data. NBC News noted reporting that illegal noncitizen voting is rare in federal charging data.
Mail ballots are already out for California's midterm elections. A block or purge at this stage would leave voters and county clerks scrambling. The case sits inside a wider Justice Department push on voter rolls in Democratic-leaning states. States still run most list maintenance even as federal citizenship fights grow. County offices need clear orders before Election Day. A late ruling could force rushed changes to how mail ballots are sorted and counted.
Civil rights groups and state lawyers argue the federal list overreaches. The department says it is enforcing citizenship rules on federal elections. Neither side treated Sunday's hearing as a final win. The panel's questions set a skeptical tone, the outlets said, but questions are not a holding. The next public step is a written order.
What we know: A Ninth Circuit panel heard the emergency bid Sunday and appeared skeptical. About 20,000 ballots are at issue. No ruling has issued.
What we don't: Whether the court will block counting, and how counties would handle any order before Election Day.
Where outlets agree NBC News, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Post report a skeptical Ninth Circuit hearing on the DOJ bid involving about 20,000 California mail ballots, with no ruling yet.
Where they differ The Justice Department says the list flags likely noncitizen voters, while California says the data are unreliable and that illegal noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare.