The Justice Department’s plan to pursue criminal prosecutions of election officials who fail to stop noncitizens from voting is an “intimidation plan” and is likely illegal, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Judge Trina Thompson, a Biden appointee, said officials are on firm legal footing even if they do end up collecting and counting illegal ballots.
“When state and local government employees perform the work of distributing, processing, or counting ballots or otherwise administering the 2026 midterm election in the manner required by their state and federal laws governing the administration of elections, they do not violate federal criminal law even if a particular ballot belongs to a registered voter alleged by defendants to be ineligible to vote,” she wrote.
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She issued an emergency restraining order blocking the Justice Department from any attempts to demand they halt processing ballots of suspected noncitizens.
It’s not clear how that will affect the Justice Department’s ongoing case attempting to get California to sequester 20,000 ballots DOJ says were mailed to suspected noncitizens.
While courts have rejected the DOJ’s request, they have not ordered it to cease the attempt.
Judge Thompson also ordered the government to stop trying to remove suspected noncitizens from state rolls.
She directed the administration to send letters to any jurisdiction that had been threatened, telling them they are no longer under threat.
In addition to California, the U.S. attorneys in Washington state had issued a warning to officials there.
Judge Thompson said her order will expire on Nov. 16, well after the Nov. 3 Election Day.
She issued her order Friday night, without giving the Justice Department a chance to argue against it.
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