Federal lawyers asked a judge Friday to throw out the Justice Department's own lawsuit seeking to keep California from counting mail ballots tied to about 20,000 people the federal government says are likely noncitizens.
The motion came about a week before a Nov. 13 evidentiary hearing in which a court-appointed special master was to examine how reliable the federal list is, according to the Associated Press and the state attorney general's office.
The federal government's position
The Justice Department filed the suit in mid-October in federal court in California against the state. It asked the court to stop California from tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from "likely noncitizens" until their citizenship could be determined. "State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America," Attorney General Todd Blanche said when the case was filed.
Federal lawyers wrote in Friday's motion that before the hearing could take place, the state would have "commingled the challenged ballots with lawful ones." The motion said "the relief the United States sought and needed is no longer available," making dismissal necessary.
Bill Essayli, who heads the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, said before the election, "We want to stop the illegal voting. We don't want to chase it later." The Justice Department did not respond to the AP's request for comment Friday evening.
California's position
State officials had argued the list was outdated and included eligible voters. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the government's bid for a temporary restraining order in late October, warning that separating ballots so late would "wreak havoc" on the election. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court also turned down emergency requests from the administration.
"Next week, the Trump Administration would have faced tough questions in court about its list of suspected noncitizens. Rather than face that scrutiny, it chose to drop its case," Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Friday. "California will always stand up for our democracy and the rule of law."
Before the suit was filed, Weber said the Justice Department had not given the state its list and called the administration's claims about noncitizens on California's rolls "unsubstantiated."
