California, feds continue election war after courts rebuke challenge to 20,000 ballots
-
asserted
courts → continue → ballots
- Courts have twice rejected the Trump administration’s bid to block the counting of 20,000 ballots it says may be from noncitizens; the Justice Department is appealing.
-
uncertain
Department → reject → noncitizens
- Gov. Gavin Newsom says California is deploying election lawyers to protect voting, while county officials have rebuffed Justice Department threats.
asserted
officials → say → threats
Soon after a federal judge in Los Angeles sharply rejected a Trump administration effort to block 20,000 California ballots from voters it alleged may be noncitizens, the U.S. Justice Department announced it will appeal — leaving attorneys on both sides preparing Thursday for yet another court battle.
uncertain
it → reject → battle
That was despite the lower court judge calling the request an unlawful threat to eligible voters in Tuesday’s midterm election and to free and fair American elections moving forward, and the same appellate court having already rejected the same plan days prior.
asserted
court → call → plan
“Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials.
asserted
ballots → process → officials
This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution,” wrote First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, the lead prosecutor in L.A.
Early Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom swiped back at the Trump administration, writing, “A warning to Donald Trump: I’m deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote.
asserted
I → disenfranchise → vote
And I just made it a FELONY to illegally seize ballots.
asserted
it → make → ballots
With just days to go until polls close, the heated election war between California and the Trump administration is showing no signs of slowing down, despite multiple court orders rejecting the administration’s central effort to interfere in the midterms by accusing state and county officials of willfully turning a blind eye to voter fraud.
asserted
war → go → fraud
That’s in part because lawyers within the U.S. Justice Department have been unrelenting in their pursuit of such control, both through court orders and threats to state and county officials.
asserted
lawyers → ’ → officials
It’s also because those same officials have refused to yield, denouncing the threats in recent letters back to the Justice Department as unconvincing and illegal.
asserted
officials → ’ → Department
“Be aware that we consider DOJ’s efforts to threaten California election officials with criminal sanctions for following federal and state law to be an effort to unlawfully intimidate both election officials and California voters, which can undermine voters’ faith in the election process,” Susan K. Blitch, counsel for Monterey County, wrote in one.
asserted
Blitch → consider → one
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled that the administration’s allegations were “not credible” and that the intervention it sought would violate a host of federal laws.
asserted
it → rule → laws
Several elections experts warned the administration is trying to sow confusion and suspicion around an election in which the Republican Party is poised to lose ground, in part so they can reject the outcome.
asserted
they → warn → outcome
But they also said the courts have consistently rebuffed the Trump administration, and will continue to do so through Nov. 3 and after — with the recent rulings in the case over the 20,000 flagged ballots a perfect example.
asserted
rulings → say → example
“The federal government lost in every way it could possibly lose.
uncertain
it → lose → way
It lost on the law, and it lost on the facts, and it lost on the equities — [or] weighing the harms to the various parties,” said Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law.
asserted
Hasen → lose → Law
Last week, Trump administration attorneys decided that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter was not ruling quickly enough on their emergency request for a temporary restraining order to block California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan from counting the 20,000 ballots it asserted were from “likely noncitizens” — so they appealed straight to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
asserted
they → decide → Appeals
On Monday, a three-judge panel there — including two appointees of President Trump and one of President Biden — denied the appeal for a lack of jurisdiction, because Carter hadn’t been given a chance to weigh in.
asserted
Carter → include → chance
However, two of the judges — Mark J. Bennett, one of the Trump appointees, and Gabriel P. Sanchez, the Biden appointee — also wrote separately to make clear that they would have denied the administration’s request on the merits, too, for being likely unconstitutional and in violation of federal law.
asserted
denied → write → law
On Wednesday, Carter, an appointee of President Clinton, issued his own ruling, in which he wrote that the administration’s allegations about noncitizen voters were “not credible” and that the intervention it sought would violate a host of federal laws, sow chaos in the ongoing midterm election, likely lead to the disenfranchisement of legitimate voters and foster future political meddling in elections.
asserted
it → issue → elections
“This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections,” Carter wrote.
asserted
Carter → violate → elections
“If [the Trump administration’s] last-minute request for relief were granted, either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process.”
uncertain
party → grant → process
Carter wrote that never in American history “has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” and that, in bringing its suit, the Trump administration was asking the court to “believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign.”
asserted
it → write → sovereign
“But California and its people are sovereign, too,” Carter wrote.
asserted
Carter → write → ?
The ruling — forceful, unequivocal and based on several of the same arguments made by Bennett and Sanchez — was cheered by state officials and voting rights groups.
asserted
ruling → base → officials
Elections experts said it squared directly with their understanding of the law, and was appropriate in the face of the Trump administration’s unprecedented, legally baseless effort to intervene in an ongoing state-run election.
asserted
it → say → election
Trump administration officials did not see it that way, and weren’t taking no for an answer.
asserted
it → see → answer
Justice Department lawyers promptly filed notice of appeal back to the 9th Circuit — where the case is likely, though not guaranteed, to land before the same three-judge panel that previously rejected the administration’s demands.
asserted
that → file → demands
War of words
On Wednesday night, Newsom appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and predicted Trump will take sweeping steps to “literally suppress the vote, to set the conditions where he will then express doubt in the electoral outcome, and suggest that it was rigged.”
asserted
it → appear → outcome
But he also said California is fighting back and prepared.
asserted
California → say → ?
“Right now, I am focused on getting over 1,000 poll workers, folks out there to monitor the DOJ monitors that Trump’s gonna send to try to steal this election,” Newsom said.
asserted
Newsom → focus → election
“We have been running tabletop exercises.
asserted
We → run → exercises
We have 1,000 volunteers.
asserted
We → have → volunteers
We have 134 election law attorneys that we’re sending out.”
asserted
we → have → that
On Thursday, Essayli replied to the latter deployment, writing, “You’re going to protect every legal or illegal vote?
asserted
You → reply → vote
What about California citizens whose votes are being diluted by ineligible voters.
asserted
votes → dilute → voters
Do their constitutional rights matter.”
asserted
rights → matter → ?
Everything you need to know about how to vote in the 2026 California general election, including how to register, where to vote and how to check the status of your ballot.
asserted
you → need → ballot
Trump, meanwhile, asserted with no evidence that “there are hundreds of thousands of bad ballots, bad votes, in California.
asserted
Trump → assert → California
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
