A federal judge in Los Angeles has rejected a Justice Department request to force California and Los Angeles County election officials to set aside ballots cast by roughly 20,000 voters the federal government had flagged as “likely noncitizens.”
U.S. District Judge David Carter of the Central District of California issued the ruling in a 26-page order, denying the DOJ’s emergency motion. Carter compared the federal government’s push to the historical disenfranchisement of black Americans and women, writing that the effort echoed Jim Crow-era tactics such as “poll taxes, literary tests, and other obstacles to prevent people from casting their vote.”
Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch. In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign. But California and its people are sovereign, too.
Carter went on to argue that granting the DOJ’s request on short notice could invite chaos, writing that “every generation in our history has witnessed repeated clashes between those who seek to limit access to the ballot and those who fight to ensure it,” and that the federal government’s bid to segregate and exclude more than 20,000 ballots ran against longstanding constitutional principles giving states control over their own elections.
He noted that more than 20,000 registered Californians could have lost access to a right that generations of Americans fought to secure had the motion succeeded.
DOJ response
The Justice Department pushed back on the ruling. A First Assistant U.S. Attorney issued the following statement:
The district court denied our emergency request to sequester ballots from 20,000 suspected noncitizens. Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials. 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.
The Justice Department has filed its Notice of Appeal and intends to seek emergency relief from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
