A federal judge just told the Department of Justice it cannot threaten or coerce election workers into stopping ballot processing — the second courtroom rebuke this week to the DOJ's effort to control how California runs its own election.
The stakes are straightforward: the federal government tried to insert itself into state election administration days before Election Day, demanding that local officials segregate roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots the DOJ claims went to noncitizens. When California refused, federal prosecutors turned to the courts — and lost. Twice.
US District Judge David O. Carter, a Clinton appointee, denied the DOJ's request for an emergency injunction on Wednesday, writing that the Trump administration had embarked on
