Appeals court to hear Justice Department voting suit against California

A federal appeals court has scheduled a hearing for Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT to consider the Justice Department's voting lawsuit against California, ABC News reported. This rare Sunday session comes after the Trump administration filed a surprise appeal, claiming a district judge delayed addressing allegations of about 20,000 potential noncitizen voters on the state's voter rolls.

The three-judge panel includes two appointees from former President Donald Trump and one from President Joe Biden, according to ABC News. The DOJ seeks to segregate ballots from the alleged noncitizens to ensure election integrity.

California officials have disputed the DOJ's claims, stating the list is unverified and contains lawful voters, despite the DOJ charging roughly 28 individuals from the list with voting and immigration-related crimes, ABC News added.

Last week, the DOJ sent letters to every county in California asking local election officials to help identify voters who may be in the U.S. illegally. The letter requested a commitment within 48 hours to work with the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security to verify citizenship status, ABC News reported.