The Justice Department has given California 48 hours to act on a list of people the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and it is threatening emergency legal action if the state does not comply.
The letter, sent Tuesday by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, says the department gave Los Angeles County officials a "password-protected thumb drive" containing the names of people the federal government "believes are likely noncitizens." A separate letter went to Dean Logan, Los Angeles County's top election official.
The department is demanding that California stop sending ballots to people on the list until their citizenship is confirmed. Ballots from listed voters that come back should be set aside, and ballots already returned should not be counted "until citizenship has been determined," the letter says. If state officials do not follow those instructions, the federal government "will have no choice but to seek emergency relief."
"Allowing noncitizens to vote cancels citizen votes," McCotter wrote.
According to the letter, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told California officials on July 16 that the federal government believed the state had noncitizens on its voter rolls.
Investigative journalist John Solomon says moves like this reflect a completely different mood inside the Justice Department since the White House Government Transparency Task Force started. In an interview with Glenn Beck, he said the prosecutorial world is no longer sitting on its hands.
"I've seen more accountability activity before grand juries and in courts in the last eight weeks than I saw in the first six years of the two Trump presidencies."
Solomon pointed to federal agencies such as Homeland Security Investigations driving cases, including against high-profile figures like Rep. Ilhan Omar, and to grand juries being used against people he described as once untouchable. His argument is that the era of pure inaction is over.
In his view, the California ultimatum is what that new posture looks like in practice. Whether it holds up in court or stays talk is the test.
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