Ninth Circuit reinstates stay of election-worker protections

The response.

The reinstated panel majority found the government likely to succeed on its argument that the district court's ex parte TRO was appealable and that the plaintiffs had not shown the federal letters amounted to intimidation prohibited by Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act. It also found irreparable harm in preventing the government from making requests that states segregate ballots associated with people federal officials alleged were noncitizens. Judges Eric Miller and Mark Bennett concurred; Miller wrote that many government positions may have little merit but that a district court generally cannot bar DOJ from expressing its view of criminal law. Chief Judge Mary Murguia and four judges dissented, arguing that the order conflicted with a separate Ninth Circuit California ballot ruling and exposed election workers to prosecution risk. Judge Roopali Desai separately criticized the court's rapidly conflicting orders. The ruling does not establish that any listed voter is a noncitizen, compel a state official to segregate ballots or finally resolve the plaintiffs' claims.