U.S.District Judge David O.
Carter on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department's emergency request to force California to set aside mail-in ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship the Trump administration has questioned, ruling that the last-minute intervention would disrupt an election already underway.The over 20,000 voters identified by Department of Justice officials as "likely aliens" were designated as such after Homeland Security Investigations and federal partners "used multiple data-enrichment and verification methods" to flag potential noncitizens on California’s voter rolls.California officials, however, disputed the list's accuracy, citing a preliminary review that identified U.S.-born individuals and voters with no voting history among those flagged.Carter, a Clinton appointee, ruled that the Justice Department's last-minute effort to intervene in California's election violated constitutional and federal-law constraints, while questioning the reliability of the government's evidence that the flagged voters were noncitizens."The district court denied our emergency request to sequester ballots from 20,000 suspected noncitizens," First Assistant U.S.
Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital."This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution.
The Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal.We filed our Notice of Appeal and will immediately seek an emergency order from the Ninth Circuit."NINTH CIRCUIT QUESTIONS TRUMP DOJ'S EMERGENCY REQUEST TO SET ASIDE 20,000 CALIFORNIA MAIL BALLOTSAn ballot drop box is set up outside City Hall in San Francisco, during early voting for the California primary election on May 26, 2026.
(Jason Henry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)The Trump administration has suffered a string of defeats in election-related cases in the lead-up to the midterm elections, raising questions whether the administration will be able to deliver on its pr...