Weather 
The legal battle between the U.S. Department of Justice and California election officials is escalating, with an expedited ruling request from the federal government and California asking the judge to dismiss the case.
California Democrats are pushing back against the Trump administration’s effort to obtain the state’s voter rolls ahead of the midterm elections. The state has filed a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case.
The dispute follows the arrests of two dozen people accused of illegally registering or voting in previous elections as part of the DOJ’s statewide “Operation Protect the Vote” initiative.
Federal officials announced charges against 28 people accused of illegally registering to vote and, in some cases, casting ballots in California elections.
“We think it’s meritless, and we think it should be thrown out of court immediately. And what is our level of confidence? We have a high level of confidence that we will have this case dismissed,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
READ MORE: Trump administration sues CA to block state from counting alleged noncitizen mail-in ballots
The Trump administration has sued California to block the state from counting alleged noncitizen mail-in ballots.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has been assigned to the case. In a separate January ruling, Carter wrote that the Justice Department’s demands for California’s voter list were “unprecedented and illegal,” with the executive branch infringing on states’ authority to administer elections. Carter tossed the January lawsuit.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli explained why he wants Judge Carter to force election officials to set aside certain ballots.
“This is an emergency action because of the actions of California. California is sending out ballots; they’ve already sent the ballots, and they’re counting ballots as we speak. They’re processing the ballots at the ROVs,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said. “Every day that goes by where the ballots of noncitizens are not being sequestered — I just want to be very clear what we’re asking for. We’re not asking to cancel anyone’s vote; we’re not asking to do anything. We’ve provided a list of noncitizens, who we believe are noncitizens, to the state of California, and we ask that their ballots be separated from the other ballots, so that way we can go through the court process. They’ve refused, they’ve refused, they’ve refused, and so we’ve had to go to court and seek an emergency order to get them to sequester the ballots. A TRO is normally decided very quickly.”
On Thursday, Bonta said voter fraud is illegal and should be prosecuted. Still, he said he thinks what the federal government is trying to do is different.
“So they have advanced this approach of, ‘You are guilty until proven innocent. If we put you on a list, and won’t tell you why you’re on that list. We won’t show the basis for why you’re on that list. We won’t show the substantiation for why you’re on that list. And we acknowledge that we’re wrong on a lot of it. Like we were wrong on every single one in Nevada. If you’re on our list, you can’t vote.’ That’s how they want to do it? Well, respectfully, we think that the court will find that unimpressive, just like I found it unimpressive, and will dismiss the case,” Bonta said.
Carter has scheduled a hearing for the case scheduled for next week, but the Justice Department is seeking immediate action. If the case is dismissed, Essayli said this is the first court they’re going to, not the last.
RELATED: Commerce man accused of illegally registering to vote questions show of force during arrest
Police are searching for a suspect who hit a cop car and drove away.
© 2026 Television,
