9th Circuit rejects federal bid to halt 20,000 California ballots

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration's request to block 20,000 California ballots on Friday. The three-judge panel voted 2-1 to allow the state to proceed with counting the votes. The administration argued that the ballots belong to voters who may be noncitizens. The majority held that the government did not prove that stopping the count was clearly required by law during an ongoing election.

The court panel included two judges appointed by President Trump and one appointed by President Biden. Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez formed the majority. They wrote that the Constitution gives the state and Congress the power to decide how elections are run. The majority stated that allowing the federal government to use statutes to dictate California's ballot processing would override the Constitution. They noted that Congress has not used its specific power under the Elections Clause to override California's existing laws for challenging ballots or removing ineligible voters.

The judges criticized the administration for bypassing the legislative branch. The majority wrote that if the United States believes different procedures are necessary for vote-by-mail ballots, it should take that suggestion to Congress rather than the courts. The panel also pointed to federal law that prescribes changes to voter lists 90 days prior to an election. They argued that the district court found the administration's list of purported noncitizens to be of suspect reliability. The majority stated that this unreliability reflects the concern Congress sought to mitigate with the 90-day quiet period.

Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, the third member of the panel, dissented. He argued that his colleagues erred in denying the administration's request to ensure only citizens vote. Bumatay described the federal government's proposal as a modest remedy. He wrote that stopping California from mixing the ballots of citizens and suspected noncitizens would not cancel any vote. Instead, it would allow time to verify the eligibility of suspected noncitizens. Bumatay stated that the district court and the 9th Circuit denied this reasonable request.

The legal action follows a separate move by federal prosecutors. They issued criminal grand jury subpoenas to three Los Angeles County election officials. The subpoenas demand that the officials appear in court the day after the election. The 9th Circuit ruling allows California to continue its established process for these 20,000 ballots while the criminal proceedings advance.