Federal Judge Bars DOJ from Threatening Election Officials with Prosecution
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Justice Department from pressuring state and local election workers over voter-eligibility disputes.
A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Justice Department to cease threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution over how they handle voter-qualification disputes. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, a Biden appointee, granted a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed by the Service Employees International Union and other groups. The order bars the DOJ from demanding that election workers remove voters from rolls, refuse ballots to specific individuals, or segregate ballots based on the administration's eligibility claims.
"Because the public has a paramount interest in ensuring that election officials and workers are able to carry out their work in accordance with federal law and election procedure, and the official day of the Elections is only a couple of days away, the balance of the equities and public interest weigh in Plaintiffs' favor," Thompson wrote.
The directive also requires the DOJ to contact any officials who received prior warnings and inform them that such threats have been enjoined. The ruling follows a similar injunction issued earlier by another California federal judge, David Carter, which stopped the Justice Department from attempting to set aside ballots in California that federal officials had flagged as possibly cast by noncitizens. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn Carter's order.