In recent weeks, the Department of Justice issued subpoenas to California election workers, threatening that they could “risk significant federal scrutiny and legal exposure” if they did not set aside ballots that were flagged as “likely” noncitizens. News of the subpoenas came out after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the DOJ’s request to set aside the ballots of more than 20,000 voters who are on a list of “likely” non-citizens. During his hearing, Judge Carter warned that “this court believes it would be wise that any threats to state and county elected employees cease immediately.” After Judge Carter found there was no legal basis for the DOJ’s demand, the DOJ filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Today, it was announced that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted to uphold Judge Carter’s ruling, blocking the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to exert control over state elections.
In the majority opinion authored by 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Mark J. Bennett, the court said: “As the district court found — and we discern no clear error — there is no feasible way to identify and segregate the ballots of specific individuals without potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system.” Now, a federal judge has ordered that the Trump Administration share the list of names with lawyers for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which would be the first time that a non-governmental organization could analyze the validity of this information.
In the opening to the majority opinion, Judge Bennett wrote: “This case is about the right of every American citizen to vote in a free and fair election. Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch. In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign. But California and its people are sovereign, too.”
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