A federal appeals court on Monday denied an emergency request from the U.S. Justice Department to intervene and block California election officials from counting approximately 20,000 ballots cast by voters whose citizenship has been questioned by the Trump administration.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over the request because a lower district court had not yet issued a ruling on the matter. The panel granted a request from Los Angeles County to dismiss the appeal, stating in an unsigned order that the Trump administration had failed to give the district court adequate time to consider its motion for a temporary restraining order.
The court determined that the emergency asserted by the federal government was partly self-constructed. The order noted that delays in the lower court stemmed from the administration’s own timeline in filing the suit, its delayed realization that existing California state law governs ballot processing, its failure to recognize the scale of California’s registered voter population and scheduled processing, and delayed communication regarding its desired relief.
While the formal ruling focused on procedural jurisdiction, two members of the panel wrote separate concurring opinions to emphasize that they would have denied the request on substantive grounds as well. Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez, a Biden appointee who joined the unsigned order alongside Trump appointee Judge Mark J. Bennett, wrote that federal law bars courts from issuing such demands on state election officials so close to an election. Sanchez warned that intervening would transform election rules while voting is already underway, causing widespread confusion, diverting administrative resources, and ushering in electoral chaos.
Bennett also filed a concurring opinion, writing that the administration’s request was likely unconstitutional under the Elections Clause, which grants authority over running elections exclusively to Congress and the states rather than the executive branch. Bennett added that the administration offered no workable plan for executing the requested remedy without causing potentially catastrophic consequences to the ongoing election.
Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, the third panel member and a Trump appointee, dissented from the decision. Bumatay argued that the appellate court possessed jurisdiction and that the federal government held a sovereign interest in safeguarding federal elections to ensure noncitizen votes do not undermine results.
California officials welcomed the ruling, which cleared the way for a scheduled Tuesday afternoon hearing before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Los Angeles. The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the outcome.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the decision as an important step in protecting citizens’ voting rights and the state’s authority to run secure elections. Governor Gavin Newsom characterized the federal challenge as an attack on the Constitution and democracy, adding that state efforts would continue unabated.
Carter, a Clinton appointee, previously rejected a separate attempt by the Trump administration to obtain California’s full voter rolls, labeling that demand unlawful in January. Similar federal rulings were issued across multiple states.
The underlying dispute centers on whether courts should bar California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan from processing and tabulating the flagged ballots until proof of citizenship can be provided. Justice Department attorneys argued in court filings that the federal government suffers irreparable harm daily because once mail ballots are opened or cast in person, they cannot be associated with a specific voter or resegregated from other ballots.
State attorneys countered that the demand to segregate 20,000 ballots and vet voters for citizenship days before the election was unconstitutional, impossible to comply with, reliant on flawed data, and likely to cause catastrophic disruption. More than 3 million ballots have already been cast statewide for the upcoming midterm elections, including more than 500,000 in Los Angeles County.
During oral arguments preceding the decision, Bennett questioned Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly regarding how the executive branch’s demands aligned with constitutional provisions assigning election time, place, and manner powers to states and congressional oversight to the legislative branch.
