Appeals court denies Justice Department bid to have California set aside about 20,000 ballots

A divided federal appeals panel on Friday refused a Justice Department demand that California separate and withhold ballots linked to roughly 20,000 voters the Trump administration suspects are noncitizens, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer and NC Newsline.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1, leaving in place an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge David Carter, NC Newsline reported. The Inquirer said the majority saw no clear error in the lower court's finding that pulling out particular voters' ballots could badly disrupt the whole counting process. The panel also warned that the request could keep eligible people from having their votes counted.

The outlets characterized the majority opinion differently. The Inquirer said Judges Mark J. Bennett, a Trump appointee, and Gabriel P. Sanchez, a Biden appointee, authored it. NC Newsline described it as unsigned, while naming those same two judges as the majority.

Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented. "California decided long ago that aliens can't vote in its elections. Today, the federal government merely seeks to safeguard that decision," he wrote, according to NC Newsline.

NC Newsline reported that the department handed the list to California in October, saying Homeland Security assembled it by checking the state's public voter roll against government records and LexisNexis information. State and Los Angeles County officials doubt its accuracy, and California officials believe many people on it are citizens, the Inquirer reported. Department lawyers have said they intend to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In an email, department spokesperson Kiersten V. Pels argued that any ballot from an ineligible voter offsets a citizen's vote, the Inquirer reported. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration has "zero authority to interfere in California's elections," according to NC Newsline.

Several other rulings landed the same day. According to the Inquirer, a federal judge issued an order late Friday prohibiting the Justice Department from using threats or coercion to halt ballot processing by election staff. Both outlets reported that a different 9th Circuit panel kept Homeland Security's field operations on alleged noncitizen voting paused in nine states, among them California, Pennsylvania and New York, until Election Day has passed.

A separate judge directed the administration to turn over the list to lawyers for two advocacy groups, the UCLA Voting Rights Project and a Los Angeles immigrant rights coalition, and the government appealed that order, the Inquirer reported. Election officials in Los Angeles County have also received grand jury subpoenas, though it remains unclear whether anyone will face charges, according to the Inquirer.

In Alaska, OPB reported, citing The Associated Press, that the Justice Department on Friday sought a court order to isolate ballots ranking a Senate challenger whose name resembles that of Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Voting in the midterm election ends Tuesday.

Compiled by True News from reporting by The Philadelphia Inquirer, NC Newsline, OPB and Anchorage Daily News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/637