A divided federal appeals court late Monday dismissed the Justice Department’s emergency attempt to make California segregate mail ballots tied to more than 20,000 registered voters the government has labeled potential noncitizens. The 2–1 decision leaves the state’s ordinary ballot-processing rules in place for now, eight days before the November 3 midterm election, while a federal district judge prepares to consider the government’s request.

The ruling is consequential but narrow. The Ninth Circuit did not decide whether any person on the federal list is ineligible or whether any ballot was illegally cast. Instead, the panel concluded that the administration tried to appeal before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter had ruled. An AP report said Carter plans to hear arguments Tuesday afternoon and rule promptly.

A procedural ruling with immediate effect

The Justice Department asked the appeals court to treat Carter’s failure to act within a self-imposed 15-hour window as a “constructive denial.” The panel majority rejected that theory, finding that the district court had not been given an adequate opportunity to consider the temporary restraining order. The court record shows that the government had previously requested a ruling by Election Day before abruptly demanding a decision by noon on October 22.

Two judges wrote separately to explain why they also viewed the requested relief skeptically. Judge Gabriel Sanchez said changing ballot procedures after voting began could create widespread confusion and “electoral chaos.” Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, said that even if the panel reached the merits, he would deny the injunction because the executive branch had not identified authority allowing it to impose a new ballot-segregation process on California.

Judge Patrick Bumatay, also appointed by Trump, dissented. He argued that the federal government has a sovereign interest in preventing unlawful voting and that allowing potentially ineligible ballots to be mixed with other votes could cause harm that cannot be repaired later. His dissent underscores that the panel’s jurisdictional ruling did not settle the underlying constitutional and statutory dispute.

What the government alleged

The Justice Department’s federal complaint says Homeland Security agencies produced a list of people registered in California whom the government believes are likely noncitizens. Officials sent the list on October 13, after California had mailed ballots to registered voters on October 1, and gave state and Los Angeles County officials 48 hours to verify citizenship or set aside returned ballots. The government sued on October 15 after officials refused.

California and Los Angeles County dispute the list’s reliability. According to the state attorney general’s case summary, county officials reviewed 200 records and found that more than half involved canceled or inactive registrations, 38.9% listed a U.S. birthplace and 71.2% had no voting history. Those findings do not prove that every person on the larger list is eligible, but they challenge the government’s characterization of all listed voters as likely noncitizens.

Federal and California law prohibit noncitizens from voting. The contested questions are whether the government’s data reliably identifies ineligible voters, whether federal criminal law authorizes the requested civil injunction and whether a court can order a state to redesign ballot handling after voting is underway.

What happens next

The case now returns to Carter, who can grant or deny the temporary restraining order after Tuesday’s hearing. The Justice Department also could pursue further appellate review, but no higher court has ordered California to segregate the ballots. Until that changes, elections officials may continue processing them under existing state procedures.

The decision is a material turn in the dispute covered in TAQ’s earlier report: the federal demand now has an appellate ruling against immediate intervention, while the underlying request remains alive in district court.