The pace of important legal action has skyrocketed. There are immigration opinions in pending cases that I can’t turn to, because right now, the most important thing after massive turnout to vote in Democrats and progressive Independents is the building effort by the Trump regime to use litigation, not winning at the polls, to keep a docile Republican Fascist Congress. 1/
2 Boosts
0 Likes
Do read the entire introduction to his decision preserving California’s voting from Trump’s interference. Full opinion available here https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/akvellqgepr/10282026calif.pdf. Full introduction in pic. 3/ #LawFedi
The Trump DOJ is trying to force California to throw people off the voter rolls. 4/
Judge Carter puts the suit in context. “The DOJ’s actions are indicative of a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election
interference by federal officials. The United States Department of Justice has filed at least thirty-one lawsuits in federal district courts across the country seeking complete voter rolls from the States. Out of the
twenty-six decided cases, the DOJ has prevailed in precisely zero.” 5/
Judge Carter: ‘Beyond its failed attempt to seek State voter rolls, the United States has also requested that States act based on the Executive’s own lists. … Sister district courts across the country have cast doubt about the United States’ proffered lists. In the Northern District of California, for example, a district court recently found that
USCIS’s process of producing its own lists relies upon “unknown artificial intelligence tools” and “[c]ommercial databases.”’ 6/
Judge Carter: “The Government has increased pressure on state and local election workers. On October
23, 2026, the United States sent letters to every county in California requiring them to set aside the votes of alleged non-citizens. The letters stated that election officials “risk significant federal scrutiny” if they failed to comply with the Government’s demands.“ 7/
Judge Carter: “The government reiterated
its threat in open court yesterday, stating that State and County election officials who do not
comply with their letter risk federal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2, which criminalizes aiding and
abetting the commission of a criminal offense. The court reiterates what it said yesterday: these
threats must stop.” 8/
I’ve quoted Judge Carter at length because he eloquently and clearly explains how the Trump regime is engaged in a coordinated concerted campaign to unlawfully control the election, which js, of course, its way of trying to unlawfully controlling the outcome. 9/
The Trump regime has been trying to gin up a claim that California is interfering with the federal government’s ability to enforce a federal criminal law against noncitizens. Judge Carter notes that the State of California’s refusal to disenfranchise unsupported lists of supposed noncitizens does no such thing. Indeed, federal agents have been arresting people it suspects of braking the federal law, which is THE way the federal government may vindicate its interest in executing that law. 10/
California is under no obligation to do anything to assist the federal government with federal law enforcement. It certainly is not obligated to disenfranchise voters on specious grounds. 11/
Every lower court decision that protects the election from the unconstitutional, dictatorial overreach by the Trump regime slows the regime’s attempt. Today, Judge Carter, a Federal District Court judge in California, struck a blow for constitutional democracy. 2/