Appeals court to hear arguments in Trump admin's voting suit against California

The three-judge panel includes two Trump appointees and a Biden appointee.

October 25, 2026, 12:59 PM

A federal appeals court has scheduled a rare hearing for Sunday in the Justice Department's voting lawsuit against California.

The arguments, set for 1 p.m. PDT on Sunday, follow a surprise appeal by the Trump administration, which claims a district judge did not act quickly enough to address the administration's allegations of roughly 20,000 potential noncitizen voters on the state's voter rolls. 

A three-judge panel that includes two appointees of President Donald Trump and one appointee of former President Joe Biden will hear arguments on DOJ's efforts to segregate ballots from the alleged noncitizens. 

California officials have countered that the list is unverified and includes the names of lawful voters, despite recent charges announced by DOJ of roughly 28 individuals from the list accused of voting and immigration-related crimes.

Earlier the DOJ sent letters last week to every county in California asking local elections officials to help identify potential voters who may be in the U.S. illegally, according to a letter described to ABC News. 

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"Within 48 hours, we ask that you commit to working with DOJ and DHS to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not," according to a letter sent by Justice Department officials to every county in California and described to ABC News. "The Department strongly urges you and your agency to work with the Department of Justice to ensure the integrity of California’s federal elections before taking actions that risk significant federal scrutiny and legal exposure."

Earlier this month, the DOJ filed suit against California accusing the state of failing to review a list of alleged noncitizens that the Trump administration claimed were sent mail-in ballots for next month's midterm election. 

In court papers filed earlier this week, Los Angeles officials said a preliminary analysis of 200 of the names on the 20,000-person list, included a "high percentage" of individuals who say they were born in the U.S. and many more who have no voting history at all. 

Of those 200 individuals, officials said, nearly 40% "indicate that they were born in the United States, which is strong evidence of citizenship; and 71.2% of the records have no voting history," according to a filing.