A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a Justice Department request to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots cast by individuals on a federal list of more than 20,000 registered voters that the administration alleges are likely noncitizens.
US District Judge David Carter issued the ruling following a Tuesday hearing in Los Angeles federal court regarding the government’s application for a temporary restraining order. The decision deals a blow to administration efforts to expand federal oversight of state voting processes ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, as Republicans work to maintain majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Writing on Wednesday, Carter emphasized the constitutional framework governing American elections. Never before in the nation’s history, the judge wrote, has the executive branch attempted on the eve of an election to coerce state and local governments into abandoning their own established procedures to bend to executive will.
Carter, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, stated that the eleventh-hour demand to exclude over 20,000 ballots violated longstanding constitutional principles granting states control over elections. He warned that granting the administration’s request could induce chaos and strip thousands of registered voters of fundamental rights.
Eroded trust in democracy is irreparable, Carter wrote, adding that segregating votes inflicts lasting harm. If the executive branch can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election based on unproven allegations, he cautioned, the democratic system faces genuine danger.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the ruling. The agency originally filed the lawsuit on October 15, marking an unusual intervention in voting administration weeks before an election.
State officials in California defended their existing protections against noncitizen voting as robust. California representatives argued that federal assertions depended on suspect data and that complying with the demand would threaten eligible voters with disenfranchisement.
As the most populous U.S. state and a Democratic stronghold, California commands 52 seats in the House of Representatives, more than any other state. President Donald Trump has made California a central target in his immigration enforcement efforts, criticizing the state’s sanctuary policies for limiting cooperation with federal authorities. Trump has maintained that noncitizen voting remains widespread, despite multiple state audits and studies indicating the practice is rare.
The Los Angeles court hearing followed a Monday decision by a federal appeals court denying a separate emergency request from the Justice Department seeking to block ballot counting before Carter could issue a ruling. Federal officials did not specify how many of the more than 20,000 flagged individuals had actually submitted mail ballots.
The California litigation mirrors federal interventions in other states with competitive contests. In Alaska, the Justice Department petitioned a judge last week to block certification of election results if the Republican incumbent senator loses narrowly, citing potential voter confusion over a rival candidate with a similar name. Alaska officials have requested dismissal, noting steps taken to differentiate the candidates on the ballot.
In Washington state, the Justice Department issued a letter Monday urging officials to exclude ballots from 400 voters alleged to be noncitizens. Washington’s chief elections officer characterized the timing as an effort to cast unwarranted suspicion on the outcome. State records indicate California had 23 million registered voters as of December 2025, while Washington reported 5 million registered voters in 2024.
Voting rights advocates have raised alarms that federal scrutiny of voter rolls to identify noncitizens carries a high risk of mistakenly flagging naturalized citizens and threatening their registration status.
