DOJ asks Ninth Circuit to make California set aside 20,000 ballots tied to suspected noncitizens

Mixed · 2A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit heard the Justice Department's emergency request on Sunday 25 October to force California to set aside mail-in ballots tied to about 20,000 people the department suspects are noncitizens, and adjourned without a ruling. 1 2 Mixed · 2The department sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan on 15 October and sent letters to every county asking local officials to help identify potential noncitizen voters. 2 3 Right · 2It went to the appeals court after U.S. District Judge David Carter did not rule by a deadline the department had requested; a hearing before Carter is set for Tuesday, and the case returns to him if the appeal is rejected. 1 3

Mixed · 2Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly argued that a processed mail-in ballot cannot be unprocessed and that the harm would be irreversible, citing Los Angeles County's estimate that it had processed more than 500,000 ballots. 3 2 Right · 1Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, asked how the court could issue an injunction he saw as inconsistent with California law adopted under the Constitution's Elections Clause, and Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, asked why the court should act before the district court rules. 1 Mixed · 2Sanchez also pressed the department on its reliance on unnamed "third party analytics" and on why a July Department of Homeland Security letter cited about 190,000 problematic registrations against 20,000 now; Donnelly said the earlier list had not been vetted and pointed to sworn declarations from two DHS employees. 3 2

Mixed · 2Judge Patrick Bumatay, also a Trump appointee, appeared more receptive to the department, asking California whether it could identify suspected noncitizen voters without an injunction. 3 2 Right · 2California's lawyer, Sam Siegel, said voters must attest to citizenship when registering and that the executive branch should ask Congress for such authority; the state's filing said the federal theory would "turn the Constitution on its head." 3 1 Right · 1California disputes the federal data, and Los Angeles County officials said a preliminary review of part of the list found discrepancies, including people born in the United States or not registered to vote. 1

Right · 1Bill Essayli, the senior federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, told the New York Post that noncitizens are "actively voting" and that California's counting would "corrupt the integrity" of the midterms, and said the state may be trying to run out the clock. 3 4 Right · 1Essayli pointed to the arrest of 28 people in what authorities called the state's biggest such takedown, charged with fraudulently registering to vote; the New York Post says they were drawn from the 20,000 list, while Governor Gavin Newsom called the DOJ's effort a "clown show". 4 3 Right · 2More than 3 million people have already cast ballots statewide, including more than 500,000 in Los Angeles County, according to figures cited in the litigation; the election is on 3 November. 1 3