US appeals court to reconsider case over threats against election workers — The Hill

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will reconsider the Donald Trump administration’s appeal against a lower court ruling that prohibited threatening election workers with criminal prosecution. The case concerned demands to set aside mail-in ballots suspected of having been cast by non-US citizens, The Hill reports.

Reconsideration of the case

The decision to rehear the case before the full court was made late Monday evening. Chief Judge Mary Murguia ordered the three-judge panel’s decision vacated after a majority of active judges who had not recused themselves supported an en banc hearing.

Several hours earlier, a three-judge panel had lifted a temporary injunction imposed by District Judge Trina Thompson. This allowed the US Department of Justice to resume its demands to the states.

Letters to states

Last week, two labor unions and political civic groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The reason was letters from the Department of Justice to California and Washington state demanding that voter rolls be checked for potentially ineligible individuals and that mail-in ballots be separated pending verification of voters’ citizenship.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

In one letter to Los Angeles officials, the department warned of significant federal attention and possible legal consequences if the demands were not met. The plaintiffs said the administration was unlawfully seeking to interfere in the midterm elections by coercing election workers with threats, which they believe could deprive lawful voters of their right to vote.

Judges’ positions

Judges Carlos Bea and Consuelo Callahan concluded that the government was likely to succeed in the case. In their view, the Department of Justice’s actions fall within core executive functions, do not violate the states’ constitutional right to administer elections, and do not conflict with federal election law.

Murguia disagreed with that conclusion. She stated that the executive branch has no right to dictate election procedures to states or seek to do so by threatening election workers with criminal prosecution. Earlier the same day, the US Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to separate 20,000 ballots in California.