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Courts & Justice · Report · File No. 261111-667

Judge closes Trump DOJ's California ballot suit, says it sought to disrupt an election

A federal judge in Los Angeles closed the Justice Department's lawsuit over about 20,000 California mail ballots on Tuesday. He wrote that the case tried to create confusion for voters and election workers. The department dropped the suit before it would have had to defend the accuracy of its list of suspected noncitizens in court.

By the Courts Desk · · 4 min read

Every quote in this story (4) was matched word for word against its source. How we work

My clippings
Rob Bonta
Rob Bonta. Photo: Douglas Despres, California Attorney General's Office, Public domain

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter formally closed the Justice Department's lawsuit that tried to make California set aside mail ballots from up to 20,000 people the government called noncitizens 1. His order was one paragraph long. It said the suit was an effort to "disrupt an ongoing election and create confusion and uncertainty" 1.

Carter was appointed by former President Bill Clinton. He closed the case after the Justice Department asked to drop its own lawsuit, and he canceled a hearing that had been set for Friday 1. The suit was filed against California officials and Dean Logan, the top election official in Los Angeles County 1.

On tapeABC10 · Nov 7
Nov. 7: ABC10 reports the Justice Department moved to dismiss its case over roughly 20,000 California ballots.Video: ABC10 on YouTube, “California ballot dispute: DOJ moves to dismiss case over 20,000 ballots”. It plays from YouTube when you press play.
The right to vote is sacred. So, too, is trust in our democracy.
David O. Carter, U.S. District Judge, Central District of California1

A suit filed after voting had begun

The department sued California and Los Angeles County on Oct. 15. State officials had refused to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a federal list of what the government called "likely noncitizens" 6. By then, ballots had gone out to every registered voter and hundreds of thousands had already been returned 12. The list came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and California election officials sharply questioned how accurate it was 3.

The government kept losing in court. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out its first emergency appeal on Oct. 26 4. Carter turned down its request for a temporary restraining order on Oct. 28 45. The appeals court denied another emergency request on Oct. 30, and the Supreme Court refused to step in on Nov. 2 4. The Supreme Court's order was one sentence long, gave no reasons and listed no dissents 7.

From Channel GOPBlanche admits recusal, then boasts 200+ staff goneTodd Blanche · 38K plays · captioned, with the source named

In his 26-page ruling on Oct. 28, Carter found that the United States likely lacked legal standing to bring the case 5. He also found that setting the ballots aside would likely break federal voting laws, including the National Voter Registration Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act 5. He wrote that if the executive branch "can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations," then "our democracy is in danger" 5.

The judge also said he did not trust the government's list. Pointing to the vague way the department described its methods and the unreliability of its similar claims in other states, he wrote that he could not find the process credible 5. In a separate hearing, a Justice Department lawyer acknowledged that the noncitizen voter lists had a high rate of errors 7.

This Court declines to be a party to such process.
David O. Carter, U.S. District Judge, Central District of California5

Why the department walked away

The department asked to drop the case on Friday, Nov. 6, three days after the midterm election 2. That was about a week before a hearing where a special master, an outside expert named by the court, would have looked at whether the list was accurate 2. The department said that by Nov. 13, the challenged ballots would be mixed in with all the others 3. "There is then no way to get the challenged ballots segregated," Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie A. Hamill wrote 3.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said the timing told the real story. He said the administration was running away from questions about its evidence 4.

Rob Bonta
Next week, the Trump Administration would have faced tough questions in court about its list of suspected noncitizens.
Rob Bonta, California Attorney General, D4

Bonta also said that "the federal government has now thrown in the towel" after the string of losses 4. As of early Friday, California had processed about 9 million ballots, with nearly 5 million left to count 2.

The administration's response

Trump officials did not concede the point. "California chose to protect illegal voters and thus refused to cooperate," Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels said 2. She also said that "thousands of likely noncitizens remain on California's voter rolls and voted in the 2026 elections" 2. No court has accepted that claim.

Bill Essayli
We will pursue every civil and criminal remedy to ensure only eligible American citizens vote in American elections,
Bill Essayli, First assistant U.S. attorney, Central District of California3

In its filing, the department said it was weighing how to protect votes, including against "vote dilution by noncitizens" 1. California prosecutors have arrested more than 30 noncitizens accused of registering to vote illegally 2. Carter noted in October that the right tool for real cases is criminal charges: where the government has strong evidence, "it should bring Section 611 indictments," he wrote, referring to the federal law that bans noncitizens from voting in federal elections 5.

A pattern beyond California

California was not alone. A federal judge blocked the department from forcing Washington state to set aside about 400 ballots 3. A preemptive Justice Department suit over certifying Alaska's U.S. Senate race was thrown out 3. In Los Angeles, the department sent federal grand jury subpoenas to county election officials. A judge barred it from threatening election workers, but the 9th Circuit put that order on hold 3. Before the election, Attorney General Todd Blanche had threatened similar suits over live ballots in "a number of states" 6.

That matters because these cases aimed at ballots already cast, not at future voter registration rules. Carter's October ruling described "a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials" 5. The case is now closed without a final ruling on its merits, so the department could still bring the same claims in a new form 13.

The Record

  1. The Justice Department sues California and Los Angeles County over about 20,000 ballots from people it calls likely noncitizens 6.
  2. Judge David Carter denies a temporary restraining order in a 26-page ruling, finding the government likely lacks standing 5.
  3. The Supreme Court rejects the department's emergency request in a one-sentence order with no noted dissents 74.
  4. The department moves to drop its own suit, about a week before a hearing on the list's accuracy 24.
  5. Carter closes the case, writing that it sought to disrupt an ongoing election 1.
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Sources

  1. CBS News (via Yahoo News), “Judge denounces DOJ lawsuit over California mail ballots as effort to "disrupt an ongoing election and create confusion"” (2026-11-10). yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/judge-denounces-doj-lawsuit
  2. AP (via WPXI), “US Department of Justice drops lawsuit over 20,000 California ballots” (2026-11-06). wpxi.com/news/politics/us-justice/H5IS23ZETY5JJMKKTUUQMKMTOU
  3. States Newsroom (Daily Montanan), “Trump's DOJ ends California suit over suspected noncitizen voters after midterm losses” (2026-11-09). dailymontanan.com/2026/11/09/repub/trumps-doj-ends-californi
  4. California Attorney General's Office, “Attorney General Bonta: Trump Administration Throws in the Towel, Drops Baseless Lawsuit Seeking to Disrupt California Elections” (2026-11-06). oag.ca.gov/node/632585
  5. Law Dork, “Federal judge rejects DOJ's California voting lawsuit as putting "our democracy in danger"” (2026-10-29). lawdork.com/p/us-v-ca-tro-denial-golf-course-closure-plans
  6. Democracy Docket, “Judge rejects DOJ demand that California set aside 20,000 ballots” (2026-10-28). democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-rejects-doj-demand-tha
  7. CNBC, “Supreme Court rejects DOJ's bid to block California from counting disputed ballots” (2026-11-02). cnbc.com/2026/11/02/supreme-court-california-mail-ballots-el

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