Image shows a collection of "Fraud Alert" signs alongside a voting sign with an American flag, highlighting election integrity and voting awareness.

Image shows a collection of "Fraud Alert" signs alongside a voting sign with an American flag, highlighting election integrity and voting awareness.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday dismissed the Justice Department’s appeal to remove 20,000 ballots given to non-citizens in California.

A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that they lacked jurisdiction over the appeal because the lower court did not have adequate opportunity to consider the DOJ’s application for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).

The three judges included: Majority: Bennett (Trump) Sanchez (Biden) – Dissent: Patrick Bumatay (Trump).

The DOJ put California on notice and vowed to prosecute election officials who tabulate unlawful ballots.

“California on Notice: Federal agencies identified over 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in California who have already been mailed ballots,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said on Friday.

“Under 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 2, officials who knowingly tabulate unlawful ballots risk aiding and abetting a federal offense. The Justice Department urges the County and the Secretary of State to temporarily segregate the flagged ballots pending citizenship verification or face legal consequences,” Bill Essayli said.

Last week, US District Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee said he would hold a hearing on the 20,000 ballots on October 27 so the DOJ rushed to the appeals court.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held a rare Sunday hearing after the DOJ skipped over the District Court judge and asked the appeals court to intervene.

During Sunday’s hearing, the Ninth Circuit Judges appeared skeptical of the Justice Department’s effort to remove the ballots shortly before the midterm elections.

On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court denied the government’s appeal because the DOJ improperly skipped over the district court judge.

“[The] United States failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”). For that reason, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal. So we grant the County’s motion to dismiss this appeal and deny as moot the United States’s emergency motion for relief,” the judges wrote.

The post BREAKING: Ninth Circuit Court Dismisses Trump DOJ’s Effort to Force California to Remove 20,000 Ballots Given to Non-Citizens appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.