DOJ Defends 20,000-Voter Noncitizen List, Seeks Contempt Probe
A national public broadcaster reported that the clash stems from a Friday decision by US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg. The judge gave the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) access to the federal data, but barred it from revealing any names and limited its use to arguments over the group’s legal standing.
Noncitizens are generally barred from voting in federal and state elections in the US, including California’s. San Francisco is an exception for local school board races: a city ordinance lets eligible noncitizen parents and legal guardians of public school students vote. A noncitizen’s appearance on a voter registration list therefore does not, on its own, prove the person registered illegally.
In filings Saturday, CHIRLA’s attorneys said their analysis showed more than 40% of the people on the federal list were absent from California’s voter registration records. They also identified 22 people who were likely naturalized US citizens and said thousands more on the list appeared to be citizens.
The Justice Department countered Sunday that the analysis breached Boasberg’s order because it had no bearing on the group’s standing. It also proposed referring the matter for a possible criminal contempt investigation.
“The report’s political grandstanding about alleged inaccuracies that purportedly impact California voters generally, or comparisons between the government’s list and the full ‘California voter file,’ has no relevance to whether the particular plaintiffs in this case have standing,” the department said.
Analysis team rejects claims
Alberto Lammers, a spokesman for the Voting Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, which carried out the analysis, denied any violation.
“Plaintiffs’ counsel and their experts fully complied with the court’s orders,” he said.
In a separate case, the Justice Department has appealed a ruling by US District Court Judge Trina L. Thompson. Her order bars federal officials from directing California election offices to purge suspected noncitizens from voter rolls, segregate their ballots or threaten legal action. A hearing was set for Monday.
The Trump administration has suffered a string of courtroom defeats in its push to contest alleged noncitizen voter registrations. A federal judge in California earlier rejected its demand to segregate ballots cast by suspected noncitizens, cautioning that eleventh-hour orders could “wreak havoc” on the state’s election. Two appellate judges upheld that decision.
California election officials say the federal list is riddled with errors and that too little time remains to complete the legally mandated removal process. The administration maintains the list was built by matching state voter registration records against federal citizenship data.
The Justice Department has also subpoenaed several California election offices and warned officials they could face criminal charges for knowingly letting noncitizens vote.
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
