Federal Court Questions DOJ Bid To Void California Mail-In Ballots

A federal appeals court signaled doubt on Sunday about a Justice Department effort to force California to discard thousands of mail-in ballots.

The three-judge panel held a rare weekend oral argument to review the government's request. The lawsuit seeks to set aside ballots sent to individuals the administration believes are not citizens.

Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, appointed by President Donald Trump, indicated the court would issue a ruling as soon as possible. He voiced concerns that the federal intervention might conflict with state authority over elections.

Bennett cited the Elections Clause of the US Constitution, which grants states the power to conduct elections. He questioned how a federal injunction could align with laws passed by the California legislature. "It seems to me that you want us to issue an injunction that is entirely inconsistent with the law that the California legislature has adopted pursuant to the Elections Clause," Bennett told Matthew Donnelly, the Justice Department lawyer. "How can we do that?"

The complaint was filed on October 15, less than three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections. The government claims California officials received a list of 20,000 names of people deemed ineligible to vote based on citizenship status.

Governor Gavin Newsom described the suit as a desperate attempt to suppress turnout. "This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day," Newsom said. "We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State, and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator's playbook."

Voting rights advocates note that the administration has not publicly detailed how it compiled the list of suspected noncitizen voters. Whistleblower reports have also raised questions about the accuracy of the data used to identify these individuals.