Appeals court rejects DOJ bid to segregate 20,000 disputed California ballots

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 ruling rejecting the Justice Department's request to force California to set aside ballots from over 20,000 individuals alleged to be noncitizens, NBC News reported.

Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez, in the majority, found that the government failed to show that such extraordinary relief was clearly required by law and noted the risk of potentially catastrophic effects on the election system if ballots were segregated, according to CBS News.

The dissenting judge, Patrick Bumatay, argued that the government's proposed remedy was modest and aimed to uphold California's decision that noncitizens cannot vote, as reported by NBC News.

California officials have stated that the list of alleged noncitizens is unreliable and likely includes many U.S. citizens, and a district court judge previously warned that the Justice Department's demands could disenfranchise eligible voters, CBS News noted.

The ruling comes amid ongoing legal disputes between the federal government and California ahead of the midterm elections, with millions of ballots already processed and anonymized to prevent matching votes to individuals, according to CBS News.

The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the appeals court decision, which marks a setback for the Trump administration's efforts to influence state-run elections, NBC News added.