Justice Department Drops Lawsuit Seeking to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots
The Justice Department moved Friday to dismiss its own lawsuit against California, saying the ballots it wanted set aside can no longer be separated after the Supreme Court declined to intervene before Election Day.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday moved to dismiss its own lawsuit that sought to stop California from counting roughly 20,000 ballots it said were cast by people who may not be citizens, ending a legal fight that reached the Supreme Court days before the midterm elections.
The department said in a Friday filing that the relief it wanted was no longer possible. By the time of a hearing set for Nov. 13, California election officials would already have mixed the disputed ballots with other votes. “There is then no way to get the challenged ballots segregated,” the department’s lawyers wrote, according to Democracy Docket.
A string of court losses
The lawsuit, filed Oct. 15, asked a federal court to order California and Los Angeles County to separate mail ballots from about 20,000 registered voters the federal government identified as likely noncitizens, and to hold them out of the count until each voter’s citizenship was checked.
The courts refused at every step. U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the request for emergency relief, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the department’s appeal. On Nov. 2, one day before Election Day, the Supreme Court declined to intervene, leaving the lower court rulings in place.
California officials had argued the federal list was out of date and included people who are eligible voters, and said forcing the state to set the ballots aside could keep American citizens from having their votes counted. The Associated Press reported that the judge hearing the case shared that view in a sharply worded order denying the request.
Case ends without a ruling on the merits
The department withdrew the case under a federal rule that lets a plaintiff drop a lawsuit before the other side files an answer or asks for summary judgment. The case therefore ends with no final ruling on whether the list was accurate or whether the ballots were lawfully cast.
The department said it was still weighing other ways to act. “The United States is evaluating how to best ensure that American votes are protected, including by preventing vote dilution by noncitizens,” its lawyers wrote. The filing named no new legal action.
The dismissal came a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily barred Justice Department officials from using threats of prosecution to press election officials to hold back ballots during the ongoing count, according to Democracy Docket.
Reporting based on coverage by the Associated Press and Democracy Docket.
