Election workers extract ballots as they help process mail-in ballots at the Registrar of Voters facility in San Diego, California, US, October 23, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
A legal expert sounded off that President Donald Trump's Justice Department just made a fatal admission in court that will likely doom their efforts to set aside ballots they claim are from noncitizens.
DOJ is currently trying to force California to set aside around 20,000 ballots they have determined to be likely from people who weren't legally authorized to cast a vote in the 2026 election.
But during oral argument before U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, a lawyer for DOJ admitted it is "fair" to say the risk the list contains mistakes is "high."
This is all she wrote, according to New York University law professor and former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman in a post to X.
"What you call game over. DOJ admits in court their list of alleged 20k noncitizens registered to vote in Cali has a HIGH ERROR RATE," wrote Goodman. "Case involves TRO barring DOJ threats to prosecute state election officials. DOJ admission will have reverberating effects in other cases."
So far, multiple judges who have looked at the Justice Department's effort to shut down voters in California have been severely skeptical.
Another ruling from D.C. Chief District Judge James Boasberg came to the same conclusion on Monday that the list of ballots to set aside in California is "flawed," with a number of the supposed non-citizens who voted actually being recently naturalized citizens.
Report typos and corrections to corrections@rawstory.com.
For customer support contact support@rawstory.com.
