A three-judge Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel expressed strong skepticism during an October 25, 2026 emergency hearing over a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to force California to segregate 20,000 mail ballots ahead of the 2026 midterms. Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez questioned appellate jurisdiction prior to a scheduled district court hearing and challenged the reliability of the third-party voter data. California officials defended state election authority under the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause.
Judges' reactions during emergency hearing
- ▪Ninth Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay appeared more sympathetic to the Trump administration's arguments for segregating California's mail ballots during the October 25, 2026 emergency hearing, questioning how California investigates noncitizens on voter rolls
- ▪Ninth Circuit Judge Mark Bennett stated on October 25, 2026, that he did not see how the court had jurisdiction to intervene before the U.S. District Court ruled
- ▪A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed significant skepticism during an October 25, 2026 emergency hearing regarding a DOJ lawsuit to set aside California mail ballots
DOJ emergency appeal request
- ▪DOJ attorney Matthew Donnelly argued that an emergency appellate ruling from the Ninth Circuit was necessary because California election workers were actively processing hundreds of thousands of mail ballots
- ▪The DOJ filed an emergency appeal with the Ninth Circuit seeking an immediate order to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots ahead of a U.S. District Court hearing scheduled for October 27, 2026
Questions over noncitizen list reliability
- ▪Los Angeles County officials identified discrepancies in a preliminary review of the DOJ's list of 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters, finding individuals who were registered non-voters or born in the United States
- ▪California attorney Samuel Siegal argued that the DOJ's purchased list of 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters relied on wildly outdated and demonstrably unreliable third-party data
- ▪Ninth Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez questioned DOJ attorney Matthew Donnelly about the reliability of the Trump administration's purchased list of 20,000 alleged noncitizens on California voter rolls
- ▪The Trump administration's list of 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters was purchased from California and analyzed by third parties, according to DOJ attorney Matthew Donnelly
Elections Clause and state authority
- ▪California argued in court filings that the DOJ's requested intervention in state mail ballot processing would unconstitutionally interfere with state authority under the Elections Clause
- ▪Judge Mark Bennett told DOJ attorneys that the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause assigns the authority to determine the time, place, and manner of elections primarily to the states
Los Angeles County voting volume
- ▪Los Angeles County has already processed more than 300,000 midterm ballots during the ongoing 2026 midterm election
- ▪More than 500,000 voters have cast ballots in Los Angeles County during the 2026 midterm election, according to figures cited in the Justice Department's litigation against California
Justice Department election lawsuits
- ▪The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in Alaska seeking to block certification of the Senate election if incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses to candidate Daniel J. Sullivan
- ▪The DOJ filed lawsuits in California and Alaska seeking to block or alter election procedures ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections
Noncitizen voting laws and prosecution
- ▪A Reuters investigation this year found 129 cases of noncitizens federally charged with voting illegally, with many stemming from administrative errors or confusion rather than intentional fraud
- ▪Congress passed a federal criminal law prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal and state elections
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