The Justice Department withdrew its attempt to prevent California from counting ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters suspected of being noncitizens, saying the requested court intervention was no longer possible after the midterm elections.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration abandoned its legal challenge to more than 20,000 California mail-in ballots Friday, Nov. 6, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its emergency appeal and federal courts declined to intervene in the state’s election procedures. The Justice Department filed a notice of voluntary dismissal three days after Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Democrats won every statewide contest in California and most of its congressional races.
The lawsuit sought to require California election officials to separate ballots associated with registered voters whom federal authorities suspected were not U.S. citizens. According to Reuters reporting published Nov. 7, federal attorneys argued that the disputed ballots needed to be identified before they were incorporated into the broader vote count because California’s procedures would make them impossible to isolate afterward. The Justice Department’s dismissal acknowledged that the opportunity for the specific intervention it requested had passed.
“The relief the United States sought is no longer available,” the department stated in its Friday filing, explaining that ballots had already been processed and counted. Federal officials had previously argued that once ballots were accepted and separated from identifying information, election administrators would be unable to distinguish votes associated with the government’s list from those cast by other registered voters.
The administration initiated the lawsuit in mid-October, after California had begun distributing ballots to approximately 23 million registered voters. Federal prosecutors claimed that a list containing roughly 20,000 names identified individuals who might not possess U.S. citizenship, making their eligibility to vote a matter requiring immediate review. California officials disputed the reliability of the list, maintaining that it contained outdated information and included legitimate voters who could have been improperly excluded from the election.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the administration’s request to separate the ballots, expressing concerns that imposing a new verification process during an active election could disenfranchise eligible voters and disrupt established procedures. Carter questioned whether the executive branch had authority to direct state election operations in the manner requested, noting that the Constitution assigns responsibility for regulating congressional elections primarily to states and Congress. He described the proposed intervention as a “monumental change” to election procedures and warned that implementing it shortly before Election Day could create widespread confusion.
The administration appealed, but a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also declined to order the requested restrictions. On Monday, Nov. 2, the Supreme Court rejected the Justice Department’s emergency application in an unsigned order, with no publicly noted dissents. The ruling allowed California to continue processing ballots under its existing procedures as voters prepared for the following day’s election.
Despite rejecting the immediate restrictions, Carter had authorized additional examination of the federal government’s evidence. A court-appointed special master was scheduled to review the disputed voter list and assess whether it accurately identified potentially ineligible registrants. The hearing was expected to take place after the election, but the Justice Department’s decision to withdraw the case ended that particular effort to obtain judicial intervention.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hamill explained in Friday’s filing that further proceedings would no longer provide the remedy federal officials originally sought. The department had argued throughout the litigation that any review conducted after ballots were processed would come too late to prevent potentially ineligible votes from entering the count.
California’s election officials maintained that the administration had not demonstrated that the individuals on its list were ineligible voters. The dispute centered on suspected citizenship status rather than established findings that more than 20,000 noncitizens had actually voted. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, but a person’s appearance on a government database or screening list does not independently establish that the person lacks citizenship or has cast an unlawful ballot.
The Justice Department’s broader election integrity investigations have continued separately from the dismissed lawsuit. According to Associated Press reporting carried by CBS News, California prosecutors have arrested more than 30 noncitizens accused of illegally registering to vote, with some also accused of participating in previous elections. Federal prosecutors have also issued subpoenas to election officials in connection with grand jury investigations. Those proceedings involve separate allegations and do not establish that the entire group of voters identified in the dismissed lawsuit was ineligible.
The administration’s legal challenge unfolded during a major election in which Democrats strengthened their position across California and nationally. Democratic candidates prevailed in the state’s statewide contests and secured most of its congressional districts, while Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress. Although the dismissal followed those results, the Justice Department attributed its decision to the inability to obtain the ballot-separation remedy it had requested, rather than to the election’s political outcome.
As of Friday, California election workers were continuing to process millions of ballots. State officials reported that approximately 9 million ballots had been processed, with nearly 5 million remaining to be counted. The outstanding ballots were being handled under California’s established election procedures, including verification requirements for mailed ballots.
The lawsuit represented one of several efforts by the Trump administration to increase federal scrutiny of state election systems, particularly regarding voter citizenship and registration records. Administration officials have argued that stronger verification measures are necessary to prevent unlawful participation in federal elections, while state officials and voting-rights organizations have challenged attempts to impose new restrictions shortly before voting begins.
The withdrawal leaves the California election results unaffected by the particular restrictions the Justice Department sought. It also ends the immediate court dispute over whether the state should have separated ballots associated with the government’s list of suspected noncitizens, although separate investigations into individual allegations of unlawful registration or voting may continue.
The case ultimately concluded without a judicial finding that the more than 20,000 voters identified by federal authorities were noncitizens or that their ballots had been cast illegally.
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