A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to stop threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution over the processing of midterm election ballots. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, based in California, issued the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit brought by election workers' unions and civil rights groups. The order prohibits the Trump administration from intimidating or coercing officials to halt processing or to sequester ballots based on administration claims of voter ineligibility.
The ruling arrived four days before the November 3 midterm elections, which will determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. The Trump administration has recently increased federal oversight of election security, citing a need to ensure public confidence. Critics, including Democratic and some Republican officials, have characterized these actions as federal overreach. The Justice Department filed a motion on Saturday to appeal Judge Thompson’s order to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
According to court documents and Judge Thompson's order, the Justice Department sent letters on October 22 to 57 of California's 58 counties and the Secretary of State, demanding they set aside the ballots of 20,000 registered voters. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli identified 1,133 "likely aliens" in San Bernardino County alone. Following these letters, armed Department of Homeland Security officials delivered notices to county employees threatening criminal charges for non-compliance. A similar demand was sent to the Secretary of State in Washington.
The concrete day-to-day change for election officials is the immediate suspension of federal grand jury subpoenas and criminal investigations related to these specific ballot demands. Judge Thompson noted that while the administration claims its actions target unlawful voting, the measures were likely to "wreak havoc" and lead to the disenfranchisement of lawful voters. Election workers would have noticed federal pressure to change how they handle specific ballots in the final days of the campaign; this order provides a legal basis to continue standard operations through at least November 16.
The precedent set by this ruling involves the limits of federal Department of Justice intervention in local election administration. While the administration argues that federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting, the court found the public interest in uninterrupted election procedures outweighed the administration's immediate demands. President Trump criticized the ruling on Saturday, questioning why the court would "reject fixing Election Fraud." The next steps depend on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which must now consider the Justice Department's appeal filed on October 31. The current restraining order remains effective through November 16.