Appeals Court Raises Doubt Over Trump Admin’s Ballot Lawsuit Against California

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A federal appeals court on Sunday expressed skepticism over the Trump administration’s bid to require California to set aside mail-in ballots from voters whom the government suspected of being noncitizens.

The Ninth Circuit of Appeals held an emergency teleconference hearing after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice of appeal seeking the court’s intervention.

During the hearing, Circuit Judge Mark Bennett said California has the authority under the elections clause to determine how it conducts elections, including how it sorts out votes from noncitizens.

“Congress has not directly changed what the legislature has adopted, which they had the right to do. And it seems to me you want us to issue an injunction that is entirely inconsistent with the law the California legislature has adopted pursuant to the Elections Clause,” the circuit judge said.

Bennett also questioned the appeals court’s jurisdiction to rule on the case, noting that the lower court had already scheduled a hearing for Tuesday.

DOJ lawyer Matthew Donnelly said the department sought an emergency court order after California said in its filing that it had processed more than 330,000 mail-in ballots.

The DOJ sued California on Oct. 15 to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 people identified by the federal government as likely noncitizens. The federal government has asked the state to set aside ballots received until it can confirm citizenship.

The department filed an appeal on Oct. 22 after U.S. District Judge David Carter failed to rule on its emergency request for injunctive relief by the requested deadline.

During the hearing, Donnelly was questioned about the source of the department’s claim that 20,000 voters were likely noncitizens. Donnelly said the information came from “a list that was purchased originally from California” and supplied to the government, which then underwent a rigorous review.

California attorney Samuel Siegel argued that the federal government has no authority to dictate how the state processes its ballots.

“If the executive branch wants that authority in the first instance, they need to go ask Congress for it. They haven’t done that. They ask this court to short- circuit the democratic process and issue an order, not just on the eve of an election, but as an election is underway,” Siegel said.

At the end of the two-hour oral argument, Bennett said the three-judge panel would try to rule as quickly as possible.

In its Oct. 21 emergency filing for a temporary restraining order, the DOJ said state and county officials contended they lacked the mechanisms and authority to prevent noncitizens from voting in the midterm elections. The department said that this showed an immediate threat to the integrity of lawful votes.

“As defendants continue processing ballots that cannot later be segregated or verified for eligibility, the dilution of lawful votes accelerates in real time,” the DOJ said in its filing.

“This is an emergency. Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected non-eligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens.“

Los Angeles County filed a motion on Oct. 21 asking the judge to dismiss the DOJ’s lawsuit, arguing the department lacked legal standing to bring the case.