9th Circuit rejects Trump DOJ's emergency motion over 20,000 questionable voters in California
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has denied an emergency request from the federal government to force California officials to set aside mail-in ballots from 20,000 people tagged as possible noncitizens.Californian officials have resisted the request from the Dept. of Justice because they say there's not enough time to verify the legality of each voter before the election.'It was determined that none of the individuals USCIS matched to the County's Sample List were born in the United States according to USCIS records.' They have also accused the administration of trying to disenfranchise voters on vague and unreliable evidence that has not been provided to the state officials.On Monday evening, the appeals court ruled 2-1 that it lacked the jurisdiction to grant the emergency request. The panel of judges did not rule on the eligibility of the 20,000 voters.The court majority ruling pointed out that the federal government knew about the possibility of noncitizen voters for months and filed its demand only after processing of mail-in ballots had already begun:There is a material risk that defendants would be unable to complete the verification process for all voters on the October list by December 3. Thus, there is a real risk that granting plaintiff its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement, and worse, could jeopardize the county’s entire election. Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly had argued California's actions were causing irreparable harm "by allowing noncitizens to vote in violation of their own state laws. The damage is irreversible and irrevocable."Seth Waxman, attorney for the Los Angeles County Clerk, argued that reviewing the millions of records against the government's list would take about 140,000 man hours, which is about 16 years of time.He also cited a review of a sample of 200 records from the list, saying that staffers found many of them were canceled or inactive registrations or individuals with no voting history.However, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official submitted a sworn affidavit that review of the 200 names found none of them were born in the U.S., contrary to L.A. officials alleging that 38.9% had attested to being native born.RELATED: Justice Department seeks to BLOCK ballots of 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters in California "After a thorough review of the immigration records of all the individuals on the County's Sample List, it was determined that none of the individuals USCIS matched to the County's Sample List were born in the United States according to USCIS records," said Nicolas Bartell, associate director of the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate at USCIS.California Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the ruling from the appeals court."The U.S. Constitution gives states and Congress — not the president or the executive branch — the power to determine the time, place, and manner of elections," he said. "The court’s order serves as an important step in our efforts to protect Californians’ right to vote and our state’s authority to run fair and secure elections.""Trump’s assault on democracy won’t slow down. Each and every one of us can do something: participate in democracy, don’t become disillusioned," said Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. "California is fighting back. And we are calling on all Californians to do the same." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!