# Ninth Circuit questions Trump DOJ’s emergency request to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/ninth-circuit-questions-trump-dojs-emergency-request-to-set-aside-20000-california-mail-ballots/
- Published: 2026-10-26T01:26:06+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-26T02:09:42+00:00
- Original publisher: Fox News (publisher lean: Far right)
- Original article: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ninth-circuit-questions-trump-doj-emergency-request-set-aside-20000-california-mail-ballots
- Topics: Art, Culture, Elections, Politics, World

## Key points

- Appeals judges questioned the DOJ’s request over about 20,000 ballots.
- California disputes the federal data and cites election safeguards.
- More than three million people had already voted statewide.

## Summary

A Ninth Circuit panel questioned the Trump administration’s emergency bid to make California set aside about 20,000 mail-in ballots linked to people the Justice Department suspects are non-citizens. The judges probed whether the government’s legal arguments could overcome state authority over election rules and whether the appeals court can intervene before a district court has ruled.

The Justice Department says ballots should be held while the voters’ eligibility is reviewed, warning that hundreds of thousands could be counted each day as the dispute continues. California disputes the government’s data and says it has safeguards against non-citizen voting; Los Angeles County’s preliminary review found apparent discrepancies in part of the federal list. More than three million Californians had already voted, and a hearing in the district court was scheduled for Tuesday.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.