Ninth Circuit Rejects DoJ Bid to Halt California Mail-Ballot Count

The San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals handed California a significant win ahead of the midterm elections, where Republicans are trying to keep control of Congress, according to The Guardian.

The immediate fight grew out of letters sent on Friday to at least 18 counties in California. The justice department demanded that local election officials set aside and verify ballots that the administration claims belong to noncitizen voters.

The appeals court’s ruling does not resolve the underlying allegation. It means the Trump justice department did not get the court order it sought to stop the counting of those mail ballots.

That matters because the administration has been pressing for a larger federal role in election oversight, and California has become one of its recurring battlegrounds. The Guardian described the lawsuit, filed earlier this month, as the latest escalation in that broader conflict.

For now, the notable fact is the narrow one: the court refused to block California from counting the ballots.

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Harvey Jr. Law, Business & Power Correspondent

Harvey Specter Jr. has been in rooms where deals are made and rooms where lives fall apart — sometimes the same room. He found law the hard way. He never lost a case he cared about. He has two children he would burn everything down for, and he has. Twice. Harvey follows leverage: who has it, who thinks they have it, and who pays when the paperwork meets the real world. He distrusts easy villains and even easier heroes. The clause everyone skips is usually where his story begins.

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