United States v. California

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking a federal court to block California from counting ballots cast by people it’s identified as “likely” noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified. But the DOJ has provided no credible evidence that any of the people on its list are noncitizens who have voted illegally. Los Angeles County is fighting the request, arguing that the Constitution leaves election administration to the states, not the executive branch.

Public Rights Project is serving as co-counsel for Los Angeles County. 

The DOJ sued California and Los Angeles County on October 15, 2026, alleging that roughly 20,000 people who may be noncitizens are registered to vote in California. The DOJ has now asked the court for a temporary restraining order, even though voting is already underway with more than 5.6 million mail ballots sent to registered voters. 

In opposition, Los Angeles County explains the reasons that an injunction would be inappropriate, including:

• The Trump administration doesn’t have the authority to set election rules. Federal law doesn’t allow the administration to stop California from running elections and counting votes under state and local law. In addition, the National Voter Registration Act doesn’t allow for systematic purges of voters in the 90-day period before the election. 
• The DOJ’s data is riddled with errors and can’t be trusted to determine voter eligibility. The list was built using voter records more than a year old from an unidentified source, supplemented through an unnamed commercial platform, and compared against federal databases. The DOJ itself acknowledges that the information may be incomplete, outdated, or mismatched.
• The election would be disrupted. In California, once ballots are removed from their envelopes, they can no longer be linked to individual voters, making the DOJ’s request to separate already-processed ballots impossible. It would only pull election staff away from serving voters and force an overhaul of election software, causing widespread disruption.
  

Why it matters

The executive branch can’t impose a new election administration system on states or local jurisdictions through a court-ordered injunction. The Constitution is clear and assigns that power to Congress and the states.

Local election officials across the country are watching this case closely, concerned about similar attacks on their own election administration. We’re urging the court to uphold the Constitution and reject these attacks. 

Read the opposition brief and motion to dismiss.