The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals briefly lifted restrictions on the Trump administration’s ability to investigate suspected noncitizen voting in California only to reverse course just hours later.
The full court almost immediately vacated the three-judge panel’s decision, reinstating the limitations pending reconsideration by all 11 active judges. The court has not yet set a rehearing date.
This challenge was brought by a coalition of labor unions and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Monday evening, a three-judge panel granted the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to pause a San Francisco federal judge’s temporary restraining order that barred the agency from making further requests for California election officials to set aside ballots cast by suspected noncitizens.
Although the panel had concluded that the federal government would likely succeed in arguing that its requests and criminal investigations were core executive functions, the ruling was vacated by the full court without explanation.
The now-reinstated order also blocks the Trump administration from issuing "demands and threats of prosecution to election officials and workers” for refusing to comply with its requests.
[RELATED: 9th Circuit Dismisses DOJ Request to Hold Absentee Ballots Cast by Suspected Noncitizens]
This reversal came after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Trump administration's emergency request to require California election officials to set aside roughly 20,000 ballots over concerns they were cast by people deemed likely to be noncitizens.
“We will continue pursuing every available legal avenue to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure federal law is enforced,” acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote on X.
According to Fox News, the DOJ has charged 195 individuals across 25 states with illegal voting and voter registration offenses over the past nine weeks. Since President Donald Trump’s second term began, 239 people have been charged with voting fraud offenses.
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