President Donald Trump’s Justice Department suffered a legal setback Monday after a federal appeals court ruled 2-1 against the administration’s effort to force California to set aside ballots from more than 20,000 voters suspected of being noncitizens.
Legal analyst Kyle Chesney pointed out the unusual split in a post on X: Trump-appointed Judge Mark Bennett joined Biden-appointed Judge Gabriel Sanchez in the majority, while Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented.
“The United States’s claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one,” the majority wrote in the 91-page order.
CNN correspondent Katelyn Polantz reported Monday that the dispute now returns to the trial court, where a hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
“The A.A.R.P. plaintiffs acted as promptly as they could; the United States, here, has not,” the appeals court’s majority wrote.
California officials have challenged the reliability of the federal government’s voter data.
BREAKING: The 9th Circuit rules 2-1 to dismiss DOJ's effort to force California to remove 20,000 purported noncitizens from the voter rolls based on data CA officials view as faulty.Majority:Bennett (Trump)Sanchez (Biden)Minority:Bumatay (Trump)https://t.co/IG60o97AKn
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 26, 2026