Judge Blocks DOJ Bid to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots in Midterms Fight

A federal judge in California has rejected the Justice Department's emergency bid to force the state to set aside ballots from more than 20,000 voters the department suspects are noncitizens, according to the Washington Post's account of the ruling, carried by Missouri Lawyers Media and read in full this cycle. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter refused on Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order requiring the ballots to be segregated, delivering the department its second courtroom setback in the case in three days.

"This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections," Carter wrote, according to the Post. He wrote that the department's request would prevent some eligible voters from having their ballots counted and would probably violate the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act. The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal soon after the decision.

The fight began when the department sued California this month; when Carter did not immediately rule, the department asked an appeals court to intervene, and a 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Monday that it did not have the power to act at that early stage and sent the case back. State and county election officials say the department's data is faulty and includes people who are not registered to vote and people who appear to be U.S. citizens, while department attorneys say the Department of Homeland Security vetted the list against passport, immigration and Social Security data and argue that counting the ballots would dilute legitimate votes. It is unknown how many people on the list were sent ballots or have returned them.