A federal appeals court appears poised to reject the Justice Department’s last-minute attempt to force California election workers to throw out ballots that the Trump administration fears might be cast by noncitizens.
During an unusual debate session Sunday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — including two Trump appointees and one Biden appointee — signaled that it saw serious flaws in the DOJ’s request for immediate action to separate all ballots submitted by voters on a 20,000-person list of presumed noncitizens on California’s voter rolls.
“It appears to me that you want us to issue an injunction that is completely inconsistent with the law passed by the California legislature,” the judge said. Marc Bennetta Trump appointee said. “How can we do this?”
“Congress and the California Legislature have declared that non-citizens cannot vote. This lawsuit is about: ‘We don’t like the way you separate citizens from non-citizens’.” Bennett added. “I just don’t see (federal law) telling California how to sort it out.”
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