A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals expressed significant skepticism on Sunday over the Justice Department’s bid to force California to set aside mail ballots from voters the administration suspects are noncitizens.
Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, told Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly that California appears to have legal authority to run its own elections, according to CNN. Bennett said a federal law barring noncitizens from voting does not by itself give the department authority to regulate the state’s voting process.
Bennett and Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, also questioned why the department appealed to the 9th Circuit before the district court in California had held a hearing. The judges pressed Donnelly on the reliability of the administration’s claim that 20,000 noncitizens are on California’s voter rolls, a figure the department said came from a purchased voter list analyzed by third parties.
The lawsuit, filed on October 15, asked a judge to require California to check the flagged names within 48 hours. The district judge set a hearing for October 27, and the department appealed seeking a faster ruling. At the end of the two-hour hearing, Bennett said the panel would try to rule as quickly as possible.
California deputy attorney general Samuel Siegel said the state requires voters to certify they are US citizens and meet the other eligibility standards before casting their ballots.
Source: CNN
