The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered California to respond by noon Saturday to an emergency request from the Trump administration's Justice Department, which seeks to set aside roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to individuals it suspects are not citizens.
The order came late Friday, hours after the Justice Department filed its emergency request. The department had previously sought a ruling by Saturday from U.S. District Judge David Carter, who did not issue a decision by that deadline, prompting the appeal.
Attorney General Todd Blanche and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli submitted the filing, asking California election officials to segregate ballots associated with the suspected noncitizens for review, preventing them from being processed alongside other votes.
Essayli told Fox News Digital that federal investigators possess evidence showing these 20,000 individuals received mail-in ballots in October. The U.S. Attorney's office initiated a lawsuit last week seeking a court order to prevent these ballots from being counted.
"We're not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens," Essayli said Wednesday. "We believe it's at a minimum of 20,000. That's the floor."
The filing argued that "Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected non-eligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens."
Essayli and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have clashed publicly over the issue, with Essayli accusing the state of allowing noncitizens onto its voter rolls. A separate hearing before Judge Carter remains scheduled for Tuesday.
