DOJ Sues California, Weber and LA County's Logan in C.D. Cal. to Bar Tabulating Mail Ballots of Over 20,000 Voters DHS Flags as Likely Noncitizens

On 10/15/2026, the Justice Department filed United States v. State of California, Shirley N. Weber and Dean C. Logan, No. 2:26-cv-12025, in the Central District of California. The complaint is signed by Andrew M. Darlington of the Deputy Attorney General’s office and lists Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office lawyers on the caption. It pleads one claim: that California’s sending of vote-by-mail ballots to, and counting of ballots from, people the federal government identified as likely noncitizens is preempted by the federal ban on noncitizen voting, 18 U.S.C. § 611(a), under the Supremacy Clause. The Elections Clause appears in the complaint as the source of Congress’s power, not as a separate count.

The complaint says the government sent California a list of over 20,000 names on October 13 and asked for review by noon on the day of filing, that California did not do so, and that the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder announced it had rejected an encrypted thumb drive from a federal agent. It asks the court to declare California’s actions preempted and to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction barring California from tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from the flagged individuals until their citizenship is verified. Its own theory of why a court order is needed is that it is not practicable or feasible for the United States to investigate the flagged voters before the election concludes, so it asks the state to hold the ballots instead. The complaint describes the names only as people the federal government believes are likely noncitizens.

Procedural state as of the RECAP docket on the filing date: only the government’s filings, summons requests, and notices of appearance (including one for the State and Weber), plus a notice that the case is related to another C.D. Cal. case. No judge assignment, motion for a preliminary injunction or TRO, or hearing date appears in RECAP. The complaint requests a preliminary injunction only in its prayer for relief; no separate motion had been docketed. The demand letters that preceded the suit are at 2026-10-13–doj-letters-give-california-48-hours-on-likely-noncitizen-list-demand-la-county-segregate-ballots; the parallel grand-jury route into California registrars is at 2026-09-16–doj-sends-five-grand-jury-subpoenas-san-diego-county-registrar-voter-records.