A federal appeals court ordered to respond by noon Saturday to the Trump administration’s emergency request involving roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to people the Justice Department suspects are noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued the order late Friday after the DOJ filed an emergency request earlier in the day seeking a ruling by Saturday.
The Justice Department sought emergency relief from the appeals court after U.S. District Judge David Carter did not rule by a deadline previously requested by the department.
The DOJ is asking California election officials to set aside ballots associated with individuals on its list while their eligibility is reviewed, rather than allowing the ballots to be processed alongside other votes.
DOJ GIVES CALIFORNIA 48 HOURS TO REVIEW LIST OF POSSIBLE NONCITIZENS ON VOTER ROLLS
In its emergency filing, the DOJ emphasized the urgency of its request.
“This is an emergency,” the filing, submitted by Attorney General Todd Blanche and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, stated.
“Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected non-eligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens,” the filing continued.
Despite the Ninth Circuit’s order, a hearing before Judge Carter remains scheduled for Tuesday, according to Fox News’ Matt Finn. It remains unclear whether the appeals court will rule before that hearing.
BLANCHE WON’T RULE OUT DOJ BLOCKING ELECTION CERTIFICATION IN ‘DOOMSDAY’ SCENARIO
Essayli previously told Fox News Digital that federal investigators have evidence showing the 20,000 individuals received mail-in ballots in October.
His office sued California last week seeking a court order to prevent ballots returned by those individuals from being counted.
“We’re not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens,” Essayli said in an interview Wednesday. “We believe it’s at a minimum of 20,000. That’s the floor.”
Essayli also clashed with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on social media this week over the state’s safeguards against noncitizen voting.
Essayli accused California of allowing noncitizens onto its voter rolls because of what he described as inadequate citizenship verification procedures, while Newsom defended the integrity of the state’s elections and maintained that California was following the law.
RAW MATERIAL FOR ELECTION FRAUD: EXPERT FLAGS VOTER-ROLL PROBLEMS FAR BEYOND ONE STATE
California election officials
