Appeals court rules against Trump — again — on California ballots

A split federal appeals court panel again rejected the Trump administration’s bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots it says are likely noncitizens until they can be verified.

The 2-1 majority on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit didn’t dispute a lower court’s finding that the list isn’t credible and ruled the administration’s position would undermine the Constitution.

“As the district court found—and we discern no clear error—there is no feasible way to identify and segregate the ballots of specific individuals without potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system,” the majority wrote in its unsigned opinion.

The majority comprised U.S. Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez, an appointee of former President Biden, and U.S. Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, appointed by President Trump.

The other Trump-appointed jurist on the panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay, dissented. He warned that California has a “lax system” for ensuring voters are citizens, and ballots can’t be segregated later if fraudulent votes are found.

“Throughout history, federal courts have acted to protect the voting and civil rights of our citizens by enjoining state action that violates the law,” Bumatay wrote. “And common sense also tells us that the federal government shouldn’t have to sit on its hands while a State allows the violation of federal law, especially when the integrity of federal elections is at stake.”

It’s the second time the 9th Circuit panel has split to side against the Trump administration. Last weekend, the administration tried to leapfrog the trial judge and get the panel to immediately intervene in its favor. The panel ruled it didn’t have jurisdiction yet.

This round, all three judges agreed they could proceed to consider the merits. But the majority said the administration’s arguments still fell flat. It sided with California, which takes issue with the veracity of the administration’s list and argues it has no legal obligation to verify voters’ citizenship ahead of Tuesday.

“To be sure, there are countervailing public interests at stake,” the majority wrote. “There is a public interest in maintaining the integrity of elections. But as discussed, the district court found that the risks that noncitizens are voting are, at best, uncertain.”

The Trump administration could now turn to the Supreme Court to try to seek emergency relief or ask the full 9th Circuit bench to step in.

The Trump administration launched the lawsuit earlier this month as it alleged the state was sending ballots to 20,000 likely noncitizens for the midterm contests. California has a universal mail-in voting program where all active voters are sent a ballot.

Election officials across California have already received hundreds of thousands of ballots, court filings show, and the state’s lawyers have conceded a ballot can’t be separated once it is processed.

U.S. District Judge David Carter, an appointee of former President Clinton assigned the lawsuit, in ruling against the administration suggested it could criminally prosecute any people found to have fraudulently voted. The Justice Department has brought a series of voting-related criminal cases in recent weeks in the state.

At a hearing this week, Carter said he was appointing a special master to investigate the administration’s claims of noncitizen voting.

The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.