Ninth Circuit rejects bid to set aside California ballots

A 2-1 Ninth Circuit panel on October 30 rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to make California set aside ballots associated with more than 20,000 people the department alleges may be noncitizens. The ruling leaves state and local election procedures in place while the department’s lawsuit continues. The department sought to prevent the ballots from being counted until voters’ citizenship could be verified. The majority said the government had not shown that such extraordinary relief was legally warranted, and cited the risk that eligible voters’ ballots could be wrongly withheld and election processing disrupted. It also questioned the reliability of the federal list and said the government had not adequately supported its request. Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez formed the majority. They said election procedures are primarily governed by state law and the Constitution’s Elections Clause, and indicated that changes to federal election procedures should be pursued through Congress rather than the courts. Their decision followed a lower court’s rejection of the department’s initial emergency request on October 28. Judge Patrick J. Bumatay dissented....