On Thursday the SEIU and AFL-CIO, representing election workers throughout California, filed suit against the Department of Justice in the Northern District of California, accusing the Department of Justice of "carrying out a series of efforts to actually or attempting to intimidate, threaten, or coerce election workers who aid others in exercising their right to vote," and requested that a temporary restraining order (TRO) be entered to prevent the DOJ from attempting to force them to segregate ballots from likely noncitizens and from "threatening" prosecution for what they consider to be just doing their job. Of course, Norm Eisen's outfit is representing Plaintiffs, which also include the NAACP and LULAC, two groups that recently requested intervenor status in the ongoing lawsuit in the Central District we've been reporting on all week.

Without calling for a hearing, and without the benefit of any responsive pleading from the DOJ, District Judge Trina Thompson, a Biden appointee, issued the requested TRO Friday evening, saying that Defendants are "temporarily enjoined and stayed, including under 5 U.S.C. §705, from the following":

  1. Defendants shall not threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers to demand that they halt processing the ballots of any registered voter solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote;
  2. Defendants shall not demand that any state or local election official
    1. (i) remove specific registered voters from their statewide voter registration lists;
    2. refuse to issue ballots to specific registered voters; or
    3. (iii) segregate or otherwise not count any ballots cast by specific registered voters for the November 3, 2026 General Election, solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote;
  3. Defendants shall not threaten state or local election officials and workers with criminal prosecution for failure to comply with such demands;
  4. Defendants shall not threaten state or local election officials and workers with criminal prosecution for processing or counting ballots in the 2026 election in compliance with state and federal laws that govern election administration on the basis that a ballot belongs to an individual alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote.
  5. The Court further ORDERS Defendants to inform any State, county, or any other local government to which any Defendant sent a letter regarding the processing and counting of ballots in the 2026 election and any list of individuals alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote that the demands and threats of prosecution to election officials and workers reflected in that letter have been enjoined.
  6. The Court further ORDERS Defendant U.S. Department of Justice to inform the Court of any pending search warrant applications, grand jury subpoenas, or other demands to access election materials or ballots pertaining to any list of individuals alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote, or compel testimony related thereto.

Now, I'm not an attorney, but I'm skeptical that this woman has the authority to do many of the things she's purporting to do here. Regarding number four, Bill Shipley says, "There is black letter authority that a federal law enforcement officer can ADVISE anyone of the law and the possible consequences of violating the law. This judge is an idiot."

And somehow she's entitled to know about law enforcement activity? I don't think so.

Also Friday, across the country, our old friend Judge Boasberg entered an order in a separate case that the DOJ had to provide CHIRLA (the California organization RedState exposed as being behind most of the organization and funding of the anti-ICE riots in 2025) with the 20,000 list of "likely noncitizens" on California's voter rolls so CHIRLA could see if any of its members are on the list.

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Meanwhile, CHIRLA operated as a Los Angeles County Flex Vote Center on Friday, breaking laws regulating conduct near polling places in the process.

With these two rulings, and everything that happened in the Central District case this week, the Supreme Court's gonna have to get involved. Soon.

(I apologize for the less-than-formal tone of this quick update; it's Friday night and I'm weary of this week's constant lawfare, but wanted to be sure our readers had the quick information.)