Justice Department seeks sanctions for analysis of databases critical of its claims about non-citizen voting

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Sunday defended the accuracy of a list of more than 20,000 alleged noncitizens registered to vote in California and suggested that a federal judge consider whether an immigrant rights group and its attorneys should face contempt charges after releasing an analysis of the names.

READ MORE: Analysis: More than 40% of names on DOJ’s list of suspected non-citizens are not on California’s voter rolls

On Friday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg granted the Coalition for Immigrant Human Rights, or CHIRLA, access to federal government data on 20,000 people the Trump administration says are noncitizen voters in California. Boasberg, based in Washington, D.C., ordered the plaintiffs not to disclose any names on the list and to use the data only to explain why they have the legal standing to challenge the Trump administration’s use of the data.

On Saturday, attorneys for the immigrant rights group filed court papers revealing that their analysis found that more than 40 percent of people on the list do not appear in the state’s voter file. He also identified 22 people on the list who were likely naturalized U.S. citizens, while saying thousands of other U.S. citizens appeared to be on it as well.

The Justice Department said in a document Sunday that the analysis done by the immigrant rights group had nothing to do with the group’s legal situation and therefore violated Boasberg’s order.

“The report’s political grandstanding about alleged inaccuracies that would impact California voters generally, or comparisons between the government’s list and the full ‘California Voter File,’ are irrelevant to whether the particular plaintiffs in this case have standing,” he said.

The filing also suggests that Boasberg refer the matter to the Justice Department for investigation into possible criminal contempt of court.

Alberto Lammers, a spokesman for the Voting Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, which filed the brief and performed the data analysis for the immigrant rights group, said in an emailed statement: “Plaintiffs’ attorneys and their experts have fully complied with the Court’s orders.”

READ MORE: Appeals court rejects Justice Department’s request for California to void disputed ballots

In a separate case, the Justice Department also appealed Sunday a ruling late Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Trina L. Thompson. The San Francisco-based judge’s ruling barred the department from requiring election offices to remove possible noncitizens from voter rolls, segregate their ballots or threaten legal action. The Justice Department noted that Thompson ruled before the federal government could file its initial arguments.

Thompson scheduled a hearing Monday on the appeal.

The case is one of several the Trump administration has lost in its battle over its lists of presumed non-citizen voters. A federal judge in California rejected his request that election officials be forced to segregate those voters’ ballots, writing that such last-minute orders could “wreak havoc” on the state’s elections. Two appeals judges agreed.

California election officials also say the list is riddled with errors and say they have no way of doing the careful work required by law to remove voters from the rolls in the days leading up to the election. People certify that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote and risk criminal prosecution if they vote while ineligible.

The administration said its list was carefully compiled from state voter registration data and compared to federal citizenship records. The Justice Department issued a series of subpoenas against California election offices and warned election officials who knowingly let noncitizens vote that they could face criminal charges.