Appeals court rejects DOJ bid to force California to set aside mail ballots

Created: 2026-10-27T07:00:00-04:00 (America/New_York)
Last updated: 2026-10-27T06:36:31-04:00 (America/New_York)

A divided Ninth Circuit panel on Oct. 26 dismissed the Justice Department’s emergency appeal seeking to make California and Los Angeles County set aside about 20,000 mail ballots the federal government says belong to likely noncitizens, saying the district court had not yet had an adequate chance to rule.

What we can say from primary-oriented reading

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, United States v. State of California et al., No. 26-7070 (D.C. No. 2:26-cv-12025-DOC-ADS), order filed Oct. 26, 2026.
• Per curiam order; concurrences by Judges Bennett and Sanchez; dissent by Judge Bumatay (2–1).
• The United States asked for a mandatory injunction ordering defendants to set aside vote-by-mail ballots from persons it identified as likely noncitizens and verify citizenship before tabulation.
• The panel held it lacked jurisdiction because the United States failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its TRO application; it granted the County’s motion to dismiss and denied the emergency motion as moot.
• The case returns to the Central District of California; the ~20,000-ballot figure is as reported by LA Times/Politico/Bloomberg Law.
• Not yet verified against a primary source (TBD): Outcome of the district-court TRO hearing.

Primary sources

• Ninth Circuit order, United States v. California, No. 26-7070 (Oct. 26, 2026) (PDF)

How outlets framed it

Visually separated appendix — outlet angles from headlines in today’s scout. Not our voice.

• Politico: Headline frames the story as: “Appeals court rejects DOJ’s bid to quickly force California to set aside ballots”
• CNN: Headline frames the story as: “Appeals court rejects Trump DOJ demand to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots”
• CBS: Headline frames the story as: “Appeals court dismisses DOJ’s request to force California to set aside ballots”
• Guardian US: Headline frames the story as: “Court blocks bid by Trump DoJ to stop California from counting mail-in ballots”
• Fox: Headline frames the story as: “Ninth Circuit questions Trump DOJ’s emergency request to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots”