Attorney General Bonta Secures District Court Victory Denying Trump Administration’s TRO, Building on Earlier Appellate Win to Protect California Elections

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied the Trump Administration’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would have required California election officials to segregate and not count mail-in ballots returned by approximately 20,000 individuals the administration “believes” are “likely” noncitizens, but has also admitted could include several U.S. citizens. Attorney General Bonta filed a brief opposing the TRO, a supplemental brief further opposing the TRO, and a motion to dismiss the federal government’s lawsuit. Today’s district court victory builds on Monday’s win at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which rejected the administration’s attempt to obtain emergency relief by bypassing the district court.

“No administration can disenfranchise thousands of individuals or disrupt an ongoing election based on highly unreliable claims of noncitizenship,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Today’s ruling is yet another important victory for the rule of law and the right to vote. But this fight is not over. We will keep fighting to protect California’s elections from unlawful federal interference and get this baseless lawsuit dismissed.”

“For the second day this week, our country’s legal system is standing up to the President’s authoritarian attempts to remain in power unchecked and unchallenged. For more than a year, California’s sovereignty has been under siege, and this lawsuit is his latest attack on the rule of law, the California Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California will continue to deliver a free and fair election that follows both state and federal law, as the Judicial Branch — importantly a co-equal branch of government — is deciding in real time, much to the Trump Administration’s dismay.”

In opposing the administration’s request for a TRO, Attorney General Bonta argued that the court should deny the request because it would:

• Lack a legal basis: The administration has no legal basis to force California to segregate and not count ballots based on unverified claims about citizenship.
• Risk disenfranchising eligible voters: The administration’s list could include eligible voters, and the administration has not provided California with the underlying data and methodology needed to evaluate its validity.
• Violate federal and state law: The administration’s demands would conflict with federal laws protecting voting rights and California laws governing elections.
• Disrupt an ongoing election: Requiring California to change its ballot-counting procedures in the middle of an election would disrupt the election and create unnecessary confusion for election officials and voters.

The district court agreed with all those arguments, decisively rejecting the federal government’s motion.

In the order, the court observed that “[e]roded trust in our democracy is irreparable. Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger. This Court declines to be a party to such process.” And it explained that “[p]oll taxes, literacy tests, and other obstacles [have been] used to prevent individuals from casting their vote. Every generation in our history has witnessed repeated clashes between those who seek to limit access to the ballot and those who fight to ensure it. In this case, the federal government seeks to segregate and exclude over 20,000 ballots. This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections. If Plaintiff’s last-minute request for relief were granted, either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process. Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve. The Government’s Application for Temporary Restraining Order is DENIED.”

The Trump Administration’s latest attempt to interfere in California’s elections follows years of efforts to undermine election results and voting rights:

• After losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, President Trump pressured Georgia officials to “find” 11,780 votes, fueled the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress certified Biden’s victory, and continues to falsely claim that he won the 2020 presidential election — even seizing ballots from that election in Fulton County, Georgia, in January 2026 as part of efforts to relitigate the results.
• The Trump Administration sought to impose new restrictions on voting and election administration through executive orders that courts have found unlawful, including the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling led by Attorney General Bonta blocking the administration’s attempts to seize control of mail voting nationwide.
• In July 2026, the Trump Administration initially alleged that California had more than 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls, which the Trump Administration reduced to about 20,000 — a 90% decrease from their earlier allegations — before bringing this litigation. This mirrors the Trump Administration’s accusations against Nevada, where the Trump Administration initially claimed that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizen voters. It later reduced that number to 185 voters and has not provided evidence to support its claim that all of the 185 individuals are noncitizens.