California judges deal huge blow to DOJ’s bid to strip 20,000 voters from next week’s elections — despite stunning court revelations

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A federal appeals court Monday rejected the Justice Department’s emergency bid to block California from counting more than 20,000 disputed mail-in ballots just days before the election.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against the Trump administration’s attempt to set aside ballots tied to voters federal officials suspect are noncitizens.

Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez ruled the Justice Department had jumped the gun by appealing before a lower court had enough time to consider its request.

The ruling came after the DOJ accused California officials of failing to make a serious effort to identify and remove suspected noncitizens from voter rolls.

The legal battle isn’t over, however, with a federal judge scheduled to hear arguments tomorrow.

“Those questionable ballots are now rolling in. Once those ballots are processed, it would be impossible to identify them, and they must be counted in the election,” Judge Patrick Bumatay, the lone dissenter, said in a filing.

“None of California’s counterarguments prevent the federal government from stepping in and seeking to stop California from burying its head in the sand while aliens may be voting in federal elections. We should’ve granted the federal government relief … because it encourages and induces illegal voting,” he continued.

The DOJ’s lawsuit accused state officials of not meeting a 48-hour deadline to review the near 20,000 names the administration deemed suspicious.

The district judge had scheduled a hearing for Oct. 27, but the administration directly appealed to the 9th Circuit Court.

“If California will make available or submit its records, we can quickly put them through our established systems to determine who’s a citizen and who’s not,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News last week.

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