The full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a ruling allowing the Justice Department to request that election officials in California and Washington set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens while their citizenship is verified, and continue related election investigations as litigation proceeds.
The 6-5 decision reinstated a three-judge panel’s order pausing restrictions imposed by a federal judge, with five judges dissenting.
The dispute stems from DOJ requests that state election officials set aside ballots from voters identified as suspected noncitizens while their citizenship was verified. Four labor and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, challenged the requests. A federal judge blocked the department from making further ballot-sequestration requests or threatening officials with prosecution for refusing them. The order also required the government to disclose certain pending federal investigative actions involving suspected ineligible voters.
The reinstated panel ruling found that the DOJ’s requests were likely permissible exercises of executive authority and that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their legal claims. The stay lets the DOJ resume asking officials to sequester suspected noncitizen ballots, continue related investigations, and warn of possible prosecution for knowingly facilitating unlawful voting.
