A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a rare weekend hearing on Sunday, October 25, 2026, to consider a Justice Department request to set aside approximately 20,000 California mail ballots. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in mid-October seeking to prevent these ballots from being counted until the citizenship status of the voters could be verified.
The litigation follows the administration flagging 20,000 names on California’s voter rolls as potential noncitizens. The Justice Department alleged that California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review these names. While a district judge had scheduled a hearing for October 27, 2026, the federal government appealed to the 9th Circuit seeking an expedited emergency order before the ballots are processed.
During the hearing, Justice Department attorney Matthew Donnelly argued that allowing noncitizens to vote causes "irreparable harm" and violates both state and federal law. However, Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, an appointee of President Donald Trump, questioned the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case before a lower court ruling. Judge Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by President Joe Biden, questioned if the federal demand violated the Tenth Amendment by "commandeering" the state to enforce federal law.
For election administrators, the scale of the proposed review represents a significant logistical change. Waxman testified that checking the expected 2.75 million mail ballots against the federal list would require 140,000 man-hours, which he translated to roughly 16 years of working time if each check took three minutes. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office argued that the federal government lacks credible evidence for its suspicions, while Judge Patrick Bumatay noted that without an injunction, the government might never know if ineligible voting occurred.
The ruling will set a precedent regarding the balance of power between the federal executive branch and state governments in managing voter rolls and election procedures. Under the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause, states generally have the authority to determine the "time, place and manner" of elections. If the court grants the Justice Department's request, it could change how mail ballots are sorted and verified in California just days before the election. Judge Bennett stated the panel would attempt to issue a ruling as quickly as possible, but did not set a specific deadline. A separate district court hearing remains on the calendar for October 27, 2026.