The Trump administration has suffered a setback in its effort to challenge California’s handling of voter registrations, after a federal appeals court declined to intervene in a dispute involving more than 20,000 people suspected by the government of being noncitizens.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, ruled 2-1 against the administration’s emergency request on Monday. The judges said a lower court should have the opportunity to consider the matter before the appeals court steps in. A hearing in the lower court is scheduled for Tuesday.
The decision comes just days before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress. It also marks another obstacle for President Donald Trump’s attempts to expand federal involvement in state election procedures.
Justice Department sought to isolate thousands of ballots
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles on October 15, asking California to separate mail-in ballots submitted by people on a government list of more than 20,000 registered voters allegedly suspected of being noncitizens.
Under the department’s proposal, those ballots would not be counted until officials verified the citizenship status of the individuals who cast them.
Federal officials said 28 people on the list had faced criminal charges related to illegal voting. However, the government did not disclose how many of the people identified had actually returned mail ballots in the election.
The appeals court majority concluded that the administration had not given the lower court sufficient time to examine its demands. As a result, the judges considered immediate intervention premature.
Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez, who joined the majority, warned that the federal government was seeking judicial intervention in an area traditionally controlled by states. He said such an approach could disrupt established state policies and create confusion for voters and election administrators.
California challenges the government’s evidence
California officials have pushed back against the Justice Department’s allegations, arguing that the state already has safeguards designed to prevent noncitizens from voting.
In a court filing, the state described the federal government’s data as questionable and warned that its proposed restrictions could affect eligible voters.
The legal team representing California Secretary of State Shirley Weber argued that the case amounted to a politically motivated intervention that could deprive thousands of residents of their voting rights.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta welcomed the appeals court’s decision, describing it as a positive development amid what he called the administration’s attacks on constitutional protections and American democracy.
The state, a Democratic stronghold with 52 seats in the US House of Representatives, has become a prominent target of Trump’s immigration and election policies.
Broader dispute over federal control of elections
Trump has repeatedly accused California of allowing immigration policies that undermine public safety and increase the risk of election fraud. His administration has made allegations of noncitizen voting a central part of its push for tighter scrutiny of voter registration systems.
The California lawsuit represented a significant escalation because it sought to prevent ballots from being counted based on a list of people whose citizenship status the government questioned.
Available evidence, however, indicates that illegal voting by noncitizens remains rare in the United States. An investigation published in July identified only 129 cases in which noncitizens had been federally charged with illegally voting. Many of those cases appeared to involve confusion about voting eligibility or administrative mistakes rather than deliberate fraud.
Voting rights advocates have also raised concerns that the federal government’s methods for examining voter registration records could mistakenly identify naturalized US citizens as ineligible voters.
Pressure on states continues
The Justice Department has warned election officials across all 50 states that knowingly allowing noncitizens to remain on voter rolls or cast ballots could expose them to criminal prosecution.
It has also brought lawsuits against 30 states and Washington, DC, seeking access to complete voter registration records, including sensitive personal information. The administration has so far lost 26 of those cases without securing a victory.
The latest ruling leaves the California dispute to proceed in the lower court, where the judge is expected to consider the administration’s request.
With the midterm elections approaching, the case highlights the growing confrontation between the federal government and states over who should oversee election procedures—and how authorities can investigate suspected ineligible voting without putting legitimate ballots at risk.
