US Justice Department seeks contempt review over voter list — Anadolu Agency
The US Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to consider possible contempt of court by the California-based immigrant rights organization Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). The department alleges that the group violated a court order by publishing findings on possible inaccuracies in a federal list of more than 20,000 people whom the government considers noncitizens registered to vote in the state, Anadolu Agency reports.
Rights advocates' analysis
On Friday, US District Chief Judge James Boasberg granted CHIRLA access to federal data. At the same time, he prohibited the disclosure of names from the list and allowed the information to be used only for arguments concerning the group's procedural standing in the case.
In a court filing on Saturday, CHIRLA attorneys said that more than 40% of people on the federal list were not found in California voter records. They also identified 22 people who are likely naturalized US citizens and reported thousands of other people on the list who, in their assessment, may be US citizens.
The Justice Department insists that the analysis did not concern the procedural standing of specific plaintiffs and therefore contradicted the judge's order. The department also proposed referring the matter for an investigation into possible criminal contempt of court. Alberto Lammers, a representative of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, whose organization conducted the analysis, rejected the allegations and said that the plaintiffs' lawyers and their experts fully complied with the court's requirements.
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Separate legal dispute
In another case, the Justice Department challenged a ruling by federal Judge Trina L. Thompson, who barred federal officials from ordering California election authorities to remove suspected noncitizens from voter rolls, segregate their ballots, or threaten legal action. A hearing in the case was scheduled for Monday.
Earlier, a federal judge in California rejected the administration's demand to segregate ballots cast by people suspected of being noncitizens, warning that a decision on the eve of the election could cause chaos. The ruling was upheld by two appellate judges.
California election officials say the federal list contains numerous errors and that there is insufficient time for the legally required procedure to remove people from the rolls. President Donald Trump's administration says it compiled the list by matching the state's voter registration data with federal citizenship data.
US noncitizens generally are not eligible to vote in federal and state elections, including in California. However, in San Francisco, parents and legal guardians who meet established criteria, are not US citizens, and have children in the city's public school system may vote in local school board elections. Therefore, the presence of a noncitizen on a voter roll does not in itself prove that the registration is unlawful.
