The Radical Reading Room

The U.S. Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected its emergency request to have California segregate ballots associated with a list of roughly 20,000 people it suspects may be noncitizens. The district judge's October 28 ruling warned that changing California's election procedures while voting was underway could disenfranchise eligible voters and disrupt ballot counting.

California disputed the accuracy of the federal list. At least some names were reported to belong to U.S. citizens, and the ruling did not establish that the listed individuals had voted illegally. Carter discussed the possibility of appointing a special master to examine the government's claims, but that idea should not be described as an order appointing one.

This case had already generated an earlier appeal before Carter ruled on the emergency request. On October 26, a divided Ninth Circuit panel dismissed that premature appeal on jurisdictional grounds. The Justice Department then pursued further appellate relief after Carter's October 28 decision. The earlier Ninth Circuit dismissal should not be mistaken for a ruling on the new appeal.

The Justice Department's allegations remain contested, and the latest appeal does not itself establish that any particular ballot was unlawfully cast. California election officials continued administering the election under existing rules while the legal dispute proceeded.