Cascade of court rulings rebuffs Trump administration's election efforts

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Set us as preferred In a cascade of rulings in the days before Tuesday’s elections, federal judges have rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to wrest control over state voting processes, pressure state and local elections officials into complying with their demands and turn the midterm vote into another opportunity for immigration enforcement.In Northern California late Friday, U.S.District Judge Trina L.

Thompson granted labor unions representing California poll workers a sweeping order barring the Trump administration from an array of election-related actions, including demanding that those workers set aside ballots from voters whose eligibility the administration has questioned, and threatening them with criminal sanctions if they refuse to do so.“Election Day is around the corner.Ballots have already been issued.

Americans have already begun voting.Workers have already begun processing ballots,” Thompson wrote.

“Given the consequences of inaction, the Court sees no reason to delay its ruling.”A Justice Department spokesperson criticized Thompson for ruling “without even waiting to hear from the United States,” and said her decision was part of a “two-track system of justice” in which other federal judges have delayed the Trump administration’s “own urgent election claims” until after election day.“The Department is reviewing the order and evaluating all options,” the spokesperson said.The ruling followed three others — one in district court in Los Angeles and two in the U.S.9th Circuit Court of Appeals — in which federal judges blocked the administration’s effort to force California elections officials to immediately set aside the ballots of 20,000 voters the administration alleges may be noncitizens, instead setting a schedule for more fact-finding in the case after polls clos...