Ninth Circuit Panel Questions DOJ Bid to Set Aside 20,000 California Mail Ballots; Ruling Pending
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Sunday questioned the Trump administration's emergency request to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail ballots tied to people the Justice Department suspects are noncitizens, Fox News Digital and Al Jazeera reported. The panel did not rule at the hearing.
The Justice Department wants election officials to set aside ballots associated with people on its list while their eligibility is reviewed, rather than process them with other votes, according to Fox News Digital. Lawyers for the administration and California argued for nearly two hours in a rare weekend hearing.
What the Ninth Circuit Judges Asked
Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, questioned whether the requested injunction could be squared with the Constitution's Elections Clause. "It seems to me that you want us to issue an injunction that is entirely inconsistent with the law that the California legislature has adopted pursuant to the Elections Clause," Bennett told Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly, according to Fox News Digital and Al Jazeera. "How can we do that?"
Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, asked why the appeals court should weigh in before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rules on the request; Carter has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Judge Patrick Bumatay, another Trump appointee, focused more on the government's concerns about noncitizen voting and questioned California's handling of challenges to suspected ineligible voters, Fox News Digital reported.
Bennett said the panel would try to rule as quickly as possible. If it dismisses the appeal, the case returns to Carter in Santa Ana on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
California's Position
California disputes the federal government's data and says it has strong safeguards against noncitizen voting. Los Angeles County officials said a preliminary review of part of the list found apparent discrepancies, including people who were born in the United States or were not registered to vote, Fox News Digital reported. In a weekend filing, the state argued the federal government's theory would "turn the Constitution on its head."
More than 3 million people have already voted statewide, including more than 500,000 in Los Angeles County, according to figures cited in the litigation, Fox News Digital reported. The Justice Department sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan on Oct. 15, according to the Post.
Essayli Warns of a 'Corrupted' Election
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, told the New York Post after the hearing: "Our concern is that noncitizens are actively voting in this election and California has confirmed they will count their votes. This will corrupt the integrity of the upcoming midterm election."
Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the Justice Department's effort a "clown show," the Post reported. Earlier this month, Newsom called the lawsuit "a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day," according to Al Jazeera.
Images: James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building, San Francisco (file photo), Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain; courtroom in the James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse (file photo), Sam Wheeler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: Fox News Digital, "Ninth Circuit questions Trump DOJ's emergency request to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots" (Oct. 25, 2026): https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ninth-circuit-questions-trump-doj-emergency-request-set-aside-20000-california-mail-ballots ; New York Post, "LA's top federal prosecutor scorches California after noncitizen voters battle" (Oct. 25, 2026): https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/las-top-federal-prosecutor-scorches-california-after-noncitizen-voters-showdown/ ; Al Jazeera, "US appeals court sceptical of Trump's lawsuit over California voter rolls" (Oct. 26, 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/26/us-appeals-court-sceptical-of-trumps-lawsuit-over-california-voter-rolls
Comments