I’m Pretty Sure Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

 The DOJ sued California because…well, I guess because Trump carried the state in 2024, but California couldn’t admit it.

The DOJ sued California on Oct. 15, minutes after a 48-hour deadline it had given the state to review a list of more than 20,000 voters it called “likely noncitizens.” The list arrived on a thumb drive sent to the Los Angeles County registrar after roughly 5.9 million mail ballots had already gone out. The registrar concluded that the DOJ’s instructions were “legally prohibited” because the government provided no evidence for its claims.

Carter picked apart how the list was built. Homeland Security Investigations bought a California voter file, and it was run through federal immigration data and a third-party analytics platform. The government didn’t reveal until the night before the hearing that the platform was LexisNexis. Carter said the government never disclosed its matching rules, its confidence thresholds, what its “enrichment process” involved, or any error rates.

Because Trump never admits errors!

“The Court cannot conclude that Plaintiff’s process is credible,” Carter wrote. “Given that Plaintiff’s entire claim for relief rests on the sincerity of this allegation, Plaintiff’s lack of credibility weighs against a finding in their favor.”

He also pointed to the DOJ’s track record. The department “has filed at least thirty-one lawsuits in federal district courts across the country seeking complete voter rolls from the States. Out of the twenty-six decided cases, the DOJ has prevailed in precisely zero.”

I'm old enough to remember when the idea that the DOJ could mislead the courts, or not be trusted, was a hurdle the courts could not get over. Trump and Blanche have finally obliterated that obstacle.

The judge found the government likely lacks standing, and that its request would likely violate the National Voter Registration Act’s ban on systematic voter purges within 90 days of an election. He also said any emergency was of the government’s own making. It bought California’s voter rolls in May but waited until mid-October to sue.

“Plaintiff’s theoretical risk of imminent harm is solely due to its own neglect,” Carter wrote.

He warned that naturalized citizens were most at risk of losing their votes. He cited evidence that federal employees were given “only twelve minutes to determine if a subject is a U.S. citizen.”

“It is no surprise that citizens are wrongly identified as noncitizens,” he wrote.

Carter closed with a blunt warning.

“If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” the judge wrote. “This Court declines to be a party to such process.”

Early voting in Texas ends today. I mention that because all windows to effect this election are closing. Tuesday is the last day. Any challenges to outcomes will require extraordinary evidence, and I would remind you that even the Roberts Court refused to get involved in Trump’s fantasies in 2020. This is the end, my beautiful friend, the end. Trump could drag the DOJ into another challenge in 2028, but it won’t involve him, so why should he?

As the court said in the California case:

“In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign,” he added. “But California and its people are sovereign, too.”

We’re all about to learn that lesson, again.