Judge orders DOJ to not threaten California election officials

Peter Blumberg, Bloomberg News on Oct 30, 2026

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A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to not threaten California election officials with criminal prosecution over the handling of election ballots cast by people swept up in a crackdown on alleged noncitizen voting.

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson in San Francisco on Friday granted a request from labor and civil rights groups to make the federal government temporarily stop warning California election officials they can be charged with crimes for not cooperating with the administration’s effort.

She also barred DOJ from demanding that election officials remove specific registered voters from their statewide voter registration lists and set aside ballots already cast for the Nov. 3 election.

While the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security “claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters,” the judge wrote.

DOJ and DHS officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Justice Department leadership directed top federal prosecutors in California to pursue criminal subpoenas of state and local officials regarding their roles administering allegedly illegal voting, Bloomberg Law reported Thursday.

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday rejected the department’s attempt to force California to set aside up to 20,000 ballots — a move the judge called a threat to democracy. The judge’s order was upheld Friday by a federal appeals court.

Thompson’s order was reported earlier by Politico.