Legal Whiplash: Trump Scores Win in California Voter Roll Fight Over 20,000 Noncitizens
3rd November 2026
In an Election Day win for President Donald Trump’s administration, a judicial game of ping-pong in California has moved in his favor.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for the Justice Department to continue its probe of California voter rolls including a warning to election workers against counting illegal votes.
The appeals court reinstated its earlier ruling that allowed the Justice Department to continue its efforts to try to have the state set aside mail-in ballots from suspected noncitizens.
The Justice Department last month announced finding more than 20,000 “likely” noncitizens on California’s voter rolls. It did not ask the state to scrap the ballots. Rather, it asked that the ballots be set aside until the citizenship could be confirmed before counting.
This marks the 9th Circuit’s third decision on the matter in a day.