Ninth Circuit Denies DOJ Request to Halt Mail Ballot Counting in California

The Ninth Circuit denied the Justice Department's request to stop counting mail ballots from approximately 20,000 people in California. The majority, which included Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez, ruled that the request violates the National Voter Registration Act. Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented, arguing that counting the challenged ballots would mean illegal votes would be counted toward the election of representatives.

The majority asserted that there is no feasible way to identify and segregate the ballots of specific individuals. They declined the United States’s invitation to contravene the Elections Clause by undermining the Constitution’s plain text.