A federal judge in California on Friday night ordered the Trump administration to stop threatening or intimidating state and local election officials over ballots it says belong to people who are not eligible to vote. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued the eight-page temporary restraining order days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The order bars any action that may "threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers to demand that they halt processing the ballots of any registered voter solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by [the administration] to be ineligible to vote." According to CBS News, it also blocks the Justice Department from threatening criminal prosecution or demanding that officials separate out ballots. Yahoo News reported it additionally covers demands to remove voters from rolls or refuse to issue them ballots.
The case was brought by the Service Employees International Union and other groups, which sued a day earlier, according to CBS News and Yahoo News. Thompson, based in San Francisco, wrote that "high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials have engaged in a campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees." She found federal officials likely violated the Voting Rights Act's prohibition on attempting to intimidate, threaten or coerce people who help others vote, and said the government was acting outside its legal or constitutional authority.
"Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters," she wrote.
The order follows pressure from the Justice Department in California. NBC News reported that letters went to election officials in 57 of the state's 58 counties. A letter dated Oct. 22 from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli to San Bernardino County listed "1133 likely aliens," asked for nonpublic registration data, and asked that their mail ballots be segregated. CBS News reported the department also issued grand jury subpoenas to Los Angeles County officials. Yahoo News reported the department on Thursday sent letters to election workers in all 50 states referring to possible prosecution if they did not preserve election records.
The ruling follows other court decisions. U.S. District Judge David Carter on Wednesday rejected the department's bid to compel California to set aside ballots for up to 20,000 people it called likely noncitizens, writing "These threats must stop." The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Friday to set aside that order. Yahoo News also reported that Judge James Boasberg ordered the administration to give the list of those people to an immigrant advocacy group. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CBS News and Yahoo News.
Thompson's order expires Nov. 16, and the next hearing is set for Nov. 13, CBS News reported. The judge also ordered the department to tell the court of any pending search warrant applications or subpoenas, and to notify officials who received prosecution warnings that such threats have been enjoined.
