The Trump Justice Department on Friday voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit that sought to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail ballots the government alleged were cast by noncitizens.
DOJ had asked courts to keep those ballots segregated until citizenship could be verified — arguing each illegal vote dilutes a lawful one. A federal judge in Los Angeles refused emergency relief, a 9th Circuit panel largely agreed, and the Supreme Court denied the administration’s last-ditch appeal before Election Day.
In Friday’s filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hamill wrote that by the Nov. 13 hearing date, California would already have “commingled the challenged ballots with lawful ones,” so there was “no way to get the challenged ballots segregated.” With the relief unavailable, DOJ said voluntary dismissal was required.
The department stressed it is “evaluating how to best ensure that American votes are protected, including by preventing vote dilution by noncitizens.” A DOJ spokesperson later said the specific case was moot but the administration “is not backing down” on list-maintenance efforts aimed at removing noncitizens from voter rolls.
California officials celebrated the dismissal. Attorney General Rob Bonta called it the end of an “unlawful effort” to interfere with the state’s elections. Los Angeles County elections chief Dean Logan said he was “pleased that the administration has accepted the clarity of the court findings.”
The fight was one of the highest-profile election-integrity clashes of the midterm cycle. Trump’s DOJ warned local officials of criminal penalties if they refused to sequester flagged ballots; state and county officials said the federal list was flawed and risked tossing out citizens’ votes.
With the lawsuit gone, those disputed ballots stay in the count — and the larger debate over noncitizen voting and federal power over state elections is far from over.