California governor asks US judges to resist Trump attempts to seize ballots

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday ​warned federal courts to be ​ready for potential attempts by President ‌Donald ​Trump's administration to seize ballots during the upcoming midterm elections. Newsom, a Democrat, sent the warning letter to federal judges as ‌the state's legal fight with the administration, which demanded records from California as part of a criminal investigation into noncitizen voting. On Friday, a US appeals court rejected the administration's ‌bid, potentially setting up a showdown at the US Supreme Court.

Separately, a federal ‌judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening to prosecute state and local election officials in California who refuse to comply with the administration's election-related demands. "Given the United States Department of Justice’s persistence in advancing ⁠this baseless ​theory of criminal ⁠liability, I have grave concerns federal agents will seek search warrants to seize ballots and ballot materials before ⁠the election results are certified," Newsom wrote.

The only reason to use search warrants would be ​to interfere in the state's "lawful counting of ballots and certifying the results of the ⁠election," Newsom wrote to the federal judges. The US Constitution assigns the administration of elections to the states, ⁠but ​the Trump administration has alleged that more than 20,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California, though the state and many experts have questioned the validity of ⁠the list. The Justice Department has not said how many of the people on its ⁠list have actually ⁠submitted ballots.

California has said the Justice Department's assertions relied on "suspect data" and that complying with its demands would risk disenfranchising eligible voters.