A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Monday rejected a request from the Justice Department for an immediate order demanding California segregate roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots from individuals the Trump administration claims are likely non-citizens.

The 2-1 ruling from the panel said the appeals court lacks jurisdiction at this stage in the litigation, punting it back to district court, which has a hearing on the DOJ lawsuit set for Tuesday afternoon.

Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, and Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a President Joe Biden appointee, ruled against the administration's request, with Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay, who was appointed by Trump, dissenting.

A sign for the Department of Justice (DOJ) during a news conference about safeguarding unaccompanied immigrant children at the Department of Justice headquarters, June 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

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In their ruling, Bennett and Sanchez wrote: "The United States’s claimed…