Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Justice Department on Thursday to disclose which states beyond California and Washington have received letters demanding they set aside ballots of alleged noncitizens before next week's elections.
The order came during a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the Nevada Democratic Party, and national Democratic campaign committees. They allege the Trump administration has sought to force states to remove noncitizen ballots from the midterm elections.
Boasberg set a compressed briefing schedule and said he would issue a ruling by Monday. He left open the possibility of barring the government from sending more letters by that date. He also told the government it could moot the case by stating it would not send additional letters before the election.
Uzoma Nkem Nkwonta, attorney for the Democrats, argued the letters threatened lawsuits to coerce states into removing ballots. "The government cannot use threats of prosecution to coerce officials to do something the government could not do on its own," Nkwonta said.
The Justice Department sued California seeking to set aside roughly 20,000 ballots, though a judge denied a temporary restraining order on Wednesday. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs published a response to a letter his state received, noting the DOJ's list included names of U.S. citizens. Hobbs called the data "deeply flawed" and urged the department to work collaboratively in coming weeks or months rather than pursue litigation at this late hour.
Christian Dibblee, attorney for the government, said the letters themselves were not self-enforcing and only notified states of potential federal law violations.