Judge bars Trump administration from threatening election officials until November 16; Justice Department appeals within a day

A federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration on Friday, October 30, 2026, to stop threatening or intimidating state and local election officials ahead of the November 3 midterms, and the Justice Department appealed the next day. US District Judge Trina Thompson's order runs through November 16. It is aimed at government demands that officials set aside ballots the administration says may have been cast by noncitizens.

The appeal went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. With voting already under way in many states, any decision would have to come within days to matter for ballots being processed now.

What the order forbids

The order bars any action that may "threaten, intimidate or coerce" election officials or workers into halting the processing of a registered voter's ballot solely because the administration alleges that voter is ineligible.

Thompson wrote that senior officials at the Justice Department and Homeland Security had run a campaign against the people administering this election. She accepted that the government says it wants to stop unlawful voting, but found its actions were likely to interfere with how the election is run and to disenfranchise lawful voters.

The ruling does not change the law on who can vote. Noncitizens remain barred from federal elections. What it limits is the use of pressure, including the threat of criminal charges, on the local staff who count the ballots.

The letters that started it

The fight grew out of Justice Department warnings to election officials in several states, including California and Washington, about criminal penalties if they did not separate certain ballots.

Step	What happened
Last week	Letters go to officials in 57 of California's 58 counties, telling them to cooperate or risk investigation themselves
October 22	A letter to a San Bernardino County official attaches a list of 1,133 "likely aliens" registered there, signed by First Assistant US Attorney Bilal Essayli
October 30	Judge Thompson issues the temporary order
October 31	Justice Department files its appeal to the 9th Circuit; Trump criticises the ruling
November 3	Election Day
November 16	Thompson's order expires unless changed

In a separate case in Washington, Judge Tanya Chutkan warned that the government's interventions could have a chilling effect, noting that some of the Justice Department's letters to local officials contained inaccurate data. Another judge has ordered the administration to hand over its list of alleged noncitizen voters.

Why this reaches beyond California

American elections are run by counties and towns, often by small teams. The administration's letters put those staff in a difficult place, between a federal prosecutor's warning and state law that tells them to process valid ballots. Mail voting makes the dispute sharper, because ballots are often counted for days after polls close, and that count is the period the order is written to cover.

For voters, the practical point is simple. Thompson's order is in force unless an appeals court pauses it, and registered voters whose names appear on a federal list are not, by that alone, disqualified.

The stakes are raised by a tight national contest for Congress, and by other federal moves around the vote, including a Justice Department suit over Alaska's Senate certification.

The next step at the 9th Circuit

The appeals court can leave the order in place, pause it while it hears the case, or rule quickly on the merits. The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the order when it was first issued. Whatever the 9th Circuit decides, the case could still reach the Supreme Court, and polls close on Tuesday.