The Trump administration has been cleared Tuesday to demand that election workers set aside and wait on counting ballots cast by suspected noncitizens.
Last month, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security cautioned election officials about potential criminal liability regarding the counting of ballots cast by suspected noncitizens. In California, this would result in the sequestration of roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots.
Accordingly, the Trump administration can resume telling state election officials to set aside suspect ballots.
Various labor unions and liberal advocacy groups including the Service Employees International Union and the NAACP sued in hopes of blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to ensure that foreigners weren’t putting their thumbs on the scale of the midterms elections.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, a Biden appointee, obliged the liberal plaintiffs on Friday, blocking the Trump administration from demanding that election officials nationwide not process ballots cast by suspected noncitizens. Her temporary restraining order was to last until Nov. 13.
On Monday, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel put a halt on the Biden judge’s temporary restraining order, finding that the government had “established a likelihood of success on the merits.”
However, a few hours later, that ruling was vacated and Mary Murguia, an Obama appointee serving as chief judge on the Ninth Circuit, ordered that the case be reheard by a full Ninth Circuit panel — a decision that law professor Jonathan Turley said “hampers the Administration’s efforts on election integrity.”
In a 6-5 vote decided midway through Election Day, the Ninth Circuit reinstated its earlier ruling lifting the restraining order on the Trump administration. Murguia was among the dissenting judges.
Accordingly, the Trump administration can resume telling state election officials to set aside suspect ballots and telling those officials that failure to do so could result in federal prosecution.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Election day, Justice department, Trump administration, Election integrity, Noncitizen, Ballots, Midterms, Politics