Appeals court rejects Trump administration bid to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to force California to set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters the federal government alleges are likely noncitizens, Reuters reported (https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-administration-loses-push-block-california-votes-alleged-noncitizens-2026-10-26/).

The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Justice Department’s emergency appeal by 2-1, ruling that it could not hear the case because the district court had not yet ruled on the department’s lawsuit. The case returns to the district court, where a hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.

Judge Mark Bennett, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Judge Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, formed the majority, while Judge Patrick Bumatay, also a Trump appointee, dissented. The majority wrote that the administration’s claimed emergency was, “at least in part, a self-constructed one”, saying part of the delay was attributable to the department’s own delay in filing suit and in recognising that California state law governs the issuing and processing of ballots, CNN reported (https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/26/politics/california-mail-ballot-noncitizen-appeals-court-rejects?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_meta).

Bennett also wrote that he would have denied the department’s request on the merits even if the court had jurisdiction, saying the federal law criminalising voting by noncitizens does not pre-empt the state’s authority under the Elections Clause, according to Democracy Docket (https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/doj-cant-leapfrog-lower-court-in-bid-to-block-20000-california-voters-appeals-court-rules/). Sanchez wrote separately that granting the request would overhaul the state’s election system during an active election.

The lawsuit, filed earlier in October, was the first time the administration had sought to prevent a state from counting votes, Reuters reported. The department said on 19 October that the 20,000 people on its list included 28 who had been criminally charged with illegally voting. The ruling is a setback for the administration’s push for a greater federal role in overseeing elections ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, and the department could still appeal to the US Supreme Court.