Appeals Court Panel Appears Skeptical of DOJ Bid to Set Aside California Mail Ballots

A three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals appeared skeptical on Sunday of a Trump administration Justice Department effort to force California to set aside mail ballots ahead of the midterm elections. At a rare Sunday hearing, the panel seemed unlikely to immediately grant the department's request to segregate 20,000 California ballots that the department says likely belong to noncitizen voters. Judge Mark Bennett said he did not see how the court had jurisdiction. The judges also expressed doubt that a trial judge needed to act faster. Lawyers for the department defended the administration's attempt to shape how California counts its ballots, and the judges pressed them on how the court could do what they were asking. Reuters described the suit as a lawsuit over California voter rolls, filed by President Donald Trump's administration, seeking to make state officials set aside thousands of mail-in ballots.

Right-leaning outlets tracked by Crosswire had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative or independent outlets had. Left-leaning Raw Story and CNN both lead with the judges' doubts. Raw Story's headline says the Justice Department lawyers were scolded and centers on the lawyers' exchange with the bench. CNN describes the department as trying to involve itself in California's vote counting. Neither excerpt gives the 20,000 figure or the noncitizen claim. The Hill and Reuters, the alternative outlets, also report skepticism but add detail the left excerpts lack. The Hill supplies the 20,000 figure, the department's noncitizen claim, Bennett's jurisdiction remark and the trial-judge timing issue. Reuters frames the case as a voter-rolls lawsuit. All four agree on the panel's skeptical stance; they differ in whether they stress the lawyers' reception or the specifics of the request. With no right-leaning coverage, no comparison with that side is possible.