DOJ Sends 1,000 Monitors to Los Angeles Polls as Federal Court Reverses Ruling
The Justice Department deployed observers to major cities on Tuesday morning after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed federal officials to threaten state election workers with criminal charges.
By Robert Marshall ·
Federal election monitors arrived at polling places in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning as part of a nationwide deployment announced by the Justice Department. The agency stated it is sending 1,000 monitors and observers to jurisdictions across the country, a move it described as the largest monitoring effort in its history. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Detroit were among the locations where these observers were placed under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The deployment coincided with a rapid series of legal reversals by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Late Monday night, a panel initially ruled that federal officials could not threaten California election workers with prosecution. By 11 p.m. Monday, the court had reversed that decision. Just before noon on Tuesday, an 11-judge panel issued a final ruling that allowed federal officials to demand states set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens and to threaten workers who count them with criminal charges. The decision split the court 6-5, with five Trump appointees in the majority.
Judge Mary Helen Murguia, a chief judge on the Ninth Circuit, dissented from the initial ruling, writing that the district court properly attempted to stop the government’s efforts to intimidate election workers. She noted that the court issued three conflicting orders within twelve hours during an ongoing election. Judge Roopali Desai, a Biden appointee, also dissented, arguing that the last-minute stay created a serious risk of disenfranchisement. She stated that public servants faced an impossible choice between fulfilling state duties or complying with federal demands.
The Justice Department instructed its remaining monitors to dress in business casual attire, specifically khakis and polos, while forbidding them from wearing insignia or carrying firearms. The agency removed several sworn law enforcement officers from its pool of volunteer monitors after a review with other federal agencies. Donya Khadem of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which sued to block the move, called the inclusion of sworn officers unlawful and intended to intimidate voters.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described the move as an attempt to intimidate voters into staying home. She said the Justice Department was laying the groundwork to dispute the results if the outcome was unfavorable. California Attorney General Rob Bonta responded on social media, vowing that state observers would be on site to watch the federal monitors. He said the state would ensure the integrity of its elections while the legal dispute escalated.
This legal maneuvering follows months of conflict over approximately 20,000 contested ballots in California. Federal prosecutors issued criminal grand jury subpoenas to three Los Angeles County election officials last week, demanding they appear in court the day after the election. Unions and voting rights groups had sued, arguing the actions amounted to a coordinated campaign to coerce civil servants. On Friday, a federal district judge in San Francisco blocked the Justice Department from threatening election workers with criminal liability, a move that preceded the Supreme Court’s unsigned decision on Monday that favored California in the ballot clawback case.
The federal government has been seeking to remove ballots it claims may have been issued to noncitizens. The Department of Justice stated that its monitors will be at polling locations but did not provide specific precinct details. The deployment marks the latest development in a dispute that has drawn national attention amid concerns about federal interference in the 2026 midterm elections.
