There have been some interesting developments in the ongoing saga related to vote-by-mail ballots sent to approximately 20,000 "likely noncitizens" in California, and the Trump DOJ's efforts to have those ballots segregated and not processed if/when they're returned until citizenship can be verified.
As I reported late Friday night, after the DOJ appealed District Court Judge David Carter's "constructive denial" of its emergency motion to force California officials to segregate ballots returned from people on the "likely noncitizen" list to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and filed the same type of emergency motion there, the 9th Circuit ordered the State of California and LA County to respond by noon Pacific time Saturday. Those parties did so, and LA County Registrar Dean Logan also filed a Motion to Dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Less than two hours later, an order was issued setting oral arguments (ostensibly on all motions pending; the order doesn't specify) before a three-judge panel for 1 PM PT on Sunday, October 25. The panel allotted one hour for argument, divided equally between the Plaintiff (USA) and Defendants (State of CA and LA County).
🗳️BREAKING: The 9th Circuit will hear remote oral argument via Zoom tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific in USA vs. State of CA, the case regarding mail ballots sent to 20k "likely noncitizens." Arguments will last 1 hr - 30 minutes for each side. https://t.co/5ApXtbqc7L
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) October 24, 2026
There were some interesting arguments in the Defendants' response pleadings, which I haven't made my way completely through yet since things are moving so fast. But this section in Dean Logan's response deserves to be highlighted and mocked. Noting that the injury the DOJ says will occur in the absence of injunctive relief is an "[in]ability to enforce 18 U.S.C. §611, the federal criminal law prohibiting non-citizen voting," he argues that not allowing the ballots to be processed — meaning, separating the ballot from the envelope in preparation for tabulation, and possibly even running it through the machine — could inhibit the DOJ's ability to prosecute those voters.
In any event, counting the ballots in question would not preclude or inhibit any section 611 prosecution; what matters to such a prosecution is simply whether the defendant actually voted. (If anything, it is the very relief the United States seeks—segregating and not counting ballots—that could inhibit section 611 prosecutions, since in that circumstance a defendant could argue that the failure to count her ballot means the crime of voting, though attempted, was never actually committed.)
That's just asinine. Dean Logan doesn't care one bit whether the DOJ is able to prosecute any of these illegal voters. And yes, what matters to the prosecution is whether the defendant actually voted, and it would be pretty tough to argue after the defendant completed the ballot and either dropped it in a dropbox or mailbox or handed it in at a vote center, they're only guilty if some third party doesn't prevent the ballot from being tabulated. They still voted; someone was just able to prevent that ballot from diluting the vote of actual citizens.
Of the three judges assigned to hear the case, two are Trump appointees (Mark J. Bennett, Patrick J. Bumatay) and one is a Biden appointee (Gabriel P. Sanchez).
As of the time of publication, Judge Carter is still proceeding with the case at the district court level as if this appeal and motion for preliminary injunction hadn't been filed with the appellate courts. He set a deadline of 3 PM PT on Sunday for the DOJ to file an omnibus response to all of the Defendants' responses and objections, and said he will rule on the motion for temporary restraining order at the conclusion of oral arguments on Tuesday, October 27. But assuming the 9th Circuit panel rules on the issues before it prior to Tuesday (and given the speed with which they're moving, that seems likely), that hearing might not happen.
Editor’s Note: Republicans are fighting for election integrity by requiring proper identification to vote. It's common sense, yet Democrats are spreading lies about the impact of such a measure.
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