Justice Department asks appeals court to intervene in California ballot case

The Justice Department asked an appeals court Thursday to intervene in its lawsuit seeking to temporarily block California from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters the Trump administration says are likely not U.S. citizens.

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The Justice Department asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to get involved before a lower-court judge ruled in the dispute.

Justice Department lawyers said the unusual maneuver was necessary because the judge assigned to the case, U.S. District Judge David Carter, had not made a decision by Thursday afternoon, as the department had requested.

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Carter scheduled a hearing for next week to consider the department’s request for an emergency order to block California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters in the Nov. 3 midterm elections until their citizenship status could be verified. The department said it interpreted Carter’s lack of ruling as a “constructive denial” of its request.

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The case is being closely watched as the Trump administration seeks to exert greater control over the elections next month that will determine control of Congress.

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The Justice Department is considering bringing litigation against more states as part of its efforts to remove noncitizens from voter rolls ahead of the midterms, a department official previously told NBC News.

Democrats have sued in federal court to block the Trump administration from overriding state authority to administer elections or intimidate state and local election officials.

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