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A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop threatening or intimidating election officials during the ongoing 2026 midterm election cycle. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued the eight-page ruling on Friday night, blocking any administration action designed to pressure state or local election workers into halting ballot processing.
Scope of the Court Order
The order specifically prohibits any action that threatens, intimidates, or coerces election officials into stopping the processing of ballots solely because the administration alleges a voter may be ineligible. Judge Thompson, based in California, wrote that senior officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security had engaged in a campaign to intimidate state and local election administrators. The order remains in effect through November 16, nearly two weeks after Election Day.
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Thompson also noted that while the administration claims its actions target unlawful voting by noncitizens, those actions are likely to interfere with election administration and disenfranchise lawful voters.
DOJ Letters and Demands
The ruling follows a series of aggressive moves by the Justice Department in recent weeks. The DOJ sent letters to election officials in 57 of California’s 58 counties, directing them to cooperate with investigations into illegal voting or face scrutiny themselves.
One letter, sent on October 22 to an official in San Bernardino County, came from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli. It included a list of what Essayli described as “1,133 likely aliens” registered to vote in the county. Officials had 48 hours to commit to working with the DOJ and DHS to verify citizenship status. The letter also requested nonpublic personal information, including Social Security numbers, state IDs, and driver’s licenses. Furthermore, Essayli asked officials to segregate — but not cancel — mail ballots from individuals whose citizenship could not be confirmed. He warned that ignoring or facilitating federal crimes carried significant legal consequences.
Essayli stated that DHS produced the list of alleged noncitizens through a “multilayered, multiagency investigative methodology.”
Courts Push Back on Administration
Courts have repeatedly rejected the administration’s efforts in California. On Friday, a federal appeals court denied the administration’s request to force California officials to segregate ballots it claims belong to noncitizens. Earlier in the week, a separate appeals court ruling on Monday blocked the DOJ’s attempt to prevent more than 20,000 ballots from being counted over similar noncitizen claims.
Additionally, a federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Justice Department’s segregation request violated longstanding constitutional principles giving states control over their own elections. That judge also questioned the administration’s methods for identifying alleged noncitizen voters. A related case in Washington state remains pending. Together, these rulings represent a significant legal setback for the administration’s election-related enforcement campaign.
