⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit hears an emergency dispute over mail ballots in California's November election. Federal agencies compiled a list of more than twenty thousand names they believe belong to likely noncitizens registered to vote. The Justice Department sued California, its secretary of state, and Los Angeles County's election administrator, seeking to hold ballots from people on that list until their citizenship can be verified. California and the county dispute the list's reliability and the government's legal authority. The county says its sampling found many listed records were canceled or inactive registrations. Being on the list is not a court finding that someone is ineligible or has cast an unlawful ballot. The government says delay matters because processing separates each ballot from its identifying return envelope, making it impossible to link the ballot to the voter afterward. The county says the requested hold would require new systems during an election and could prevent eligible voters' ballots from being counted. The route to this court is unusual. The district judge set an October twenty-seventh hearing without granting or denying the emergency request. The government appealed first, arguing that waiting amounted to a denial. Lawyers call that a constructive denial. California and the county say there is no appealable decision yet. The central statute is Title eighteen, Section six eleven, which generally makes noncitizen voting in federal elections a crime. The dispute is whether it supports the new ballot-handling requirements sought here. Alongside that question, listen for arguments about the appeals court's authority, the evidence behind the list, and changing procedures after voting has begun. Recording note: The court's file starts during its opening announcement; the full arguments and recorded connection interruptions are preserved.

United States v. California, et al. (No. 26-7070) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued October 25, 2026.