Trump DOJ ends California suit over suspected noncitizen voters

The U.S. Department of Justice is dismissing a lawsuit that tried to force California to set aside the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters, marking the formal end of the Trump administration’s most aggressive effort to control vote counting in the lead-up to the midterm elections.

The Justice Department filed a notice in court Friday night that it was abandoning the lawsuit. The decision ended what had been a dramatic weeks-long battle between the federal government and state and local election officials over control of California’s elections.

The filing came less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court, hours before Election Day, ruled against an emergency request by the Justice Department — and after Republicans suffered crushing electoral losses nationwide. President Donald Trump will enter the final two years of his term facing a Congress controlled by Democrats.

Ballots from 20,000 people

The DOJ had asked the Supreme Court to stop election officials from processing and counting ballots from roughly 20,000 people the Trump administration suspected were noncitizens. The justices instead quickly rejected the request in a one-sentence order.

While the Supreme Court rebuffed the Justice Department, a federal judge in California had scheduled a hearing for Nov. 13 that would have given the Trump administration another chance at an order requiring election officials to set aside the ballots. 

The hearing, which may have included witnesses, would have potentially revealed new information about how the list was developed. California election officials had heavily criticized the accuracy of the list, which was compiled by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In the Friday court filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie A. Hamill wrote that the Justice Department was dropping the lawsuit because by Nov. 13, ballots from individuals on the list would be “commingled” with other ballots.

“There is then no way to get the challenged ballots segregated,” Hamill wrote.

Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, wrote on social media that the Justice Department’s efforts “to restore confidence and integrity in elections continue.”

“We will pursue every civil and criminal remedy to ensure only eligible American citizens vote in American elections,” Essayli wrote.

Californians defend ‘well-defined standards’

Dean Logan, the top election official in Los Angeles County, which had been sued by the Justice Department, in a statement said he welcomed the dismissal of the lawsuit. As Los Angeles County’s registrar-recorder/county clerk, Logan’s office had warned that setting aside the ballots could throw the election into chaos and effectively halt ballot counting.

Lawyers for California and Los Angeles County had emphasized during the lawsuit that noncitizen voting is illegal under state law and the state takes preventive measures. Voters must sign their ballot envelopes and those signatures are checked by election workers. Voters must also attest under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.

“At each stage of this election, and in response to the Department of Justice, we have been clear that state and federal law sets well-defined standards for verifying and challenging voter eligibility,” Logan said.

The lawsuit against California had been one in a series of steps taken by the Trump administration ahead of Election Day aimed at asserting power over elections, which are run by states under the U.S. Constitution.

Homeland Security has arrested dozens of noncitizens over alleged election crimes in recent weeks. And DHS conducted election-related field operations that were temporarily paused by a federal judge over concerns that they were intimidating naturalized citizens.

The Justice Department sent federal grand jury subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County and raised the prospect that election officials would face prosecution if they tabulated the ballots of noncitizens. A federal judge issued an order prohibiting the DOJ from threatening election workers, but the order was paused by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Legal action in more states

The Justice Department preemptively sued Alaska over the certification of its U.S. Senate race. Trump said he ordered the action, angry that the ballot included a candidate with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. A federal judge tossed the lawsuit.

As of Monday, the race remained too close to call, with Democrat Mary Peltola holding a lead of a few hundred votes.

The DOJ also demanded Washington state set aside the ballots of about 400 people it alleged were suspected noncitizens. A federal judge issued an order preventing the DOJ from forcing the state to comply.