𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐈𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐈𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐈𝐔 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐏-𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝟏𝟐 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 On Election Day afternoon, the Ninth Circuit's full 11-judge en banc panel voted 6-5 to let the Trump administration keep demanding that California and Washington State set aside suspected noncitizen ballots. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli didn't wait to spike the football, writing on X that 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴. 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴. He added: 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳. It took three reversals in twelve hours to get there. A three-judge panel first lifted a district judge's restrictions on the DOJ. Then the full court voted to rehear the case en banc, wiping that ruling out. Hours later, the 11-judge panel restored it anyway, 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥. Chief Judge Mary Murguia, who pushed for the rehearing, dissented — insisting the Justice Department's request to flag illegal ballots amounted to voter intimidation. The fight is over roughly 20,000 California ballots and more than 400 in Washington State that the DOJ flagged as potentially cast by noncitizens — people the government says registered and voted, in some cases more than once, while in the country illegally. States already sequester ballots routinely for signature mismatches and provisional review. The DOJ simply asked them to do the same here until citizenship could be verified. That wasn't good enough for 𝐒𝐄𝐈𝐔, 𝐀𝐅𝐒𝐂𝐌𝐄, 𝐋𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐂 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐀𝐀𝐂𝐏, who sued to brand the request itself as "unlawfully intimidating, threatening, or coercive." The Ninth Circuit's majority wasn't buying it, ruling the executive branch — not a coalition of unions — gets to call the ball on enforcing citizenship law at the ballot box. It's the same fight playing out in the DOJ's broader Operation Protect the Vote, which has already charged 28 green-card holders across California, including a Long Beach woman and a La Puente man accused of lying about their voting history on naturalization paperwork. The restrictions stay paused while the appeal plays out, and SEIU's allies can keep fighting in court. But on the day it mattered most, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐧 — 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐩-𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭.