US Attorney Bill Essayli Faces Judicial Scrutiny Over Voter-Fraud Lawsuit and Aggressive Prosecutions
Interim U.S. attorney Bill Essayli, appointed by President Donald Trump, is under court challenge for his lawsuit to block thousands of California ballots and for a series of controversial prosecutions.
Interim U.S. attorney Bill Essayli, who leads the Southern California district, has been ordered by a federal judge to stop serving as a de facto United States attorney while the legality of his appointment is reviewed. The ruling follows his recent lawsuit seeking to set aside ballots for roughly 20,000 voters the Department of Justice says may be non-citizens, a move the state argues could disenfranchise voters and is logistically unfeasible.
Essayli’s office also charged 13 green-card holders with alleged illegal voter registration and warned election officials that processing a ballot from a non-citizen could expose them to legal jeopardy. An appeals court earlier this month rejected the Justice Department’s request to invalidate those votes.
“This is all in service of an intentional effort to chill the vote in California,” said former Justice Department lawyer Sergio Perez, describing the lawsuit as a politicized use of the U.S. attorney’s office.
Legal analysts note that non-citizen voting is extremely rare and that the Justice Department’s aggressive stance is unusual for an election-season case. Defense attorneys have characterized several of Essayli’s prosecutions as politically motivated and lacking sufficient evidence, citing dismissed charges and acquittals in cases involving protestors and low-level drug offenses.
“He’s targeting people who want to exercise free speech, he’s targeting the most vulnerable, he’s targeting the least dangerous individuals,” said Los Angeles defense lawyer Ian Wallach.
The judge’s latest decision also disqualified Essayli from overseeing two ongoing cases, though the order is not yet effective and the Justice Department plans to appeal. Essayli’s office responded that the matter will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
“The president runs the executive branch, and nothing here is going to change that,” Essayli said after a recent hearing.
The controversy adds to a pattern of high-profile cases that have been dismissed or resulted in acquittals, raising questions about the office’s prosecutorial priorities and its alignment with the Trump administration’s agenda.