The Justice Department asked an appeals court Thursday to intervene in its lawsuit seeking to temporarily block California from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters the Trump administration says are likely not U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to get involved before a lower-court judge ruled in the dispute.<\/p>\n
Justice Department lawyers said the unusual maneuver was necessary because the judge assigned to the case, U.S. District Judge David Carter, had not made a decision by Thursday afternoon, as the department had requested.<\/p>\n
Carter scheduled a hearing for next week to consider the department\u2019s request for an emergency order to block California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters in the Nov. 3 midterm elections<\/a> until their citizenship status could be verified. The department said it interpreted Carter\u2019s lack of ruling as a \u201cconstructive denial\u201d of its request.<\/p>\n The case is being closely watched as the Trump administration<\/a> seeks to exert greater control over the elections next month that will determine control of Congress.<\/p>\n The Justice Department is considering bringing litigation<\/a> against more states as part of its efforts to remove noncitizens from voter rolls ahead of the midterms, a department official previously told NBC News.<\/p>\n