Politics

Judge rejects Trump DOJ bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots. DOJ is appealing.

Judge David O. Carter said the request would "wreak havoc" on an election already underway and called the list not credible.

Stock photo. Photo by Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday refused the Trump Justice Department's request to make California set aside ballots tied to as many as 20,000 people the government calls "likely" noncitizens, six days before the Nov. 3 election.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California denied DOJ's application for a temporary restraining order in United States v. State of California (No. 2:26-cv-12025), the 26-page order shows. A temporary restraining order is a short-term emergency order a court can issue before it fully hears a case.

"The Executive's requested relief, however, would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens," Carter wrote. He ended the order: "Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger."

Carter found the government's list not credible. He wrote that DOJ's matching method "raises significant concerns," that DOJ never disclosed its matching rules, and that it waited until the night before the hearing to reveal it relied on LexisNexis. He said the government already has a lawful remedy: prosecuting people who vote illegally, as it has done with 28 people this month.

DOJ sued California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan on Oct. 15. The NAACP, LULAC and other voting rights groups joined the case to defend the ballots. On Monday, the Ninth Circuit threw out DOJ's earlier attempt to go around Carter.

The people at stake are California voters whose names appear on a list the state and Los Angeles County call unreliable. A county review found many people on it lack active registrations, NPR reported.

DOJ filed a notice of appeal Wednesday night, NPR reported. Bill Essayli, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, whom a federal judge ruled is serving unlawfully as the office's leader, wrote on X that he would seek an emergency order from the Ninth Circuit. California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the ruling an important victory but said "this fight is not over," according to NPR.

Still unknown: whether the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court will act before Election Day.

We applaud the ruling. A citizen's vote shouldn't be pulled aside because of a list the government won't explain. California voters can track their ballots through the Secretary of State's Where's My Ballot service.