Appeals court hands Trump administration setback in push to block California votes by alleged noncitizens

Key Points:

• A U.S. appeals court denied the Trump administration's request to block California from counting mail ballots from over 20,000 registered voters alleged to be likely noncitizens, marking a setback for federal election oversight efforts ahead of the midterms.
• The 9th Circuit Court ruled it was premature to intervene, citing insufficient opportunity for a lower court judge to consider the case, with a hearing scheduled soon.
• The lawsuit, the first by the Trump administration aiming to prevent a state from counting votes, alleged some on the list had illegally voted, though California disputed the data and called the lawsuit a politically motivated stunt.
• Voting rights groups warned the administration’s approach risks wrongly targeting naturalized citizens, while California maintains strong safeguards against noncitizen voting and criticized the Justice Department’s claims as based on unreliable data.
• The Justice Department has pursued legal action against multiple states over voter roll data but has largely lost these cases, and California officials hailed the ruling as a defense of democracy against federal overreach.