Federal Appeals Court Weighs Trump Administration's Challenge to California Voter Rolls

A federal appeals court hearing Sunday over the Justice Department's voting lawsuit against California closed without a ruling.

The Details: The hearing was spurred by an appeal by the Trump administration claiming that a district judge did not act on the matter quickly enough to address the allegations of roughly 20,000 potential noncitizen voters on California's voter rolls. Two out of the three judges on the panel were critical of the Trump administration's emergency effort to set aside thousands of California's mail-in ballots tied to alleged noncitizens. The judges questioned the legal arguments provided by the government and whether the court has jurisdiction to make a ruling considering the Constitution's Elections Clause, which states that state legislatures have authority over the times, places and manner of congressional elections, subject to congressional regulation.

'Trickle Of Prosecutions': Outlets on the left like MS Now (Left bias) and ABC News (Lean Left) tended to highlight officials saying that a preliminary analysis of the 20,000 names showed 200 of the names having "a high percentage" of being citizens. MS Now also highlighted the recent arrests of 28 people on the 20,000-name list, saying these 28 cases "represent just over one-tenth of 1% of the 20,000 'likely noncitizens' who DHS claims are registered to vote in California." According to the article, MS Now reviewed the charging documents that have been made public, revealing that "some of the election-related charges loudly touted by DOJ officials in press conferences and on social media appear to have been quietly dropped." MS Now also compared the "trickle of prosecutions" to the nationwide numbers, saying that while the administration is "portraying noncitizen voting as a civil right epidemic," the numbers remain low.

'Already In Jeopardy': Outlets on the right like The New York Post (Right) tended to highlight the urgency behind the issue, saying that "Los Angeles' top federal prosecutor fears noncitizens could be illegally casting ballots in California as dozens of polling places opened across LA County Saturday," adding that he warns "the state could be trying to run out the clock before disputed votes are counted." The First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli also said it is "very highly likely" that the California elections are "already in jeopardy" as "noncitizens have already voted." According to Essayli, the "biggest fear is they're just going to try to run out the clock until all the ballots have been processed, in which case there will be nothing we'll be able to do after the election," explaining that "Once they count the ballots, there's no way to go back and undo that."

RELATED: DOJ Arrests 28 for Voter Fraud in California

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