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By Hugh Cameron
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Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has been ordered to stop threatening to prosecute or launch investigations into election workers—following weeks of aggressive tactics intended to root out ineligible voters that the court said were likely “interfering with the lawful administration” of the 2026 midterms.
On Friday, a federal judge issued the temporary restraining order after a number of labor groups brought forward a lawsuit against the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As summarized in the court order, the agencies' officials were accused of engaging in a campaign to “intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees who are engaged in administering the ongoing midterm 2026 election.”
“Free exercise of the right to vote is a core tenet of our democracy. It requires safeguarding to ensure full participation and public trust in our elections. Election Day is around the corner,” Judge Trina Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, wrote in her opinion.
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“Ballots have already been issued. Americans have already begun voting. Workers have already begun processing ballots. Given the consequences of inaction, the Court sees no reason to delay its ruling.”
Newsweek has contacted the DOJ and two plaintiffs in the case for comment.
What Is the Case About?
The case concerns the administration’s push to stamp out what president Trump has described as “rampant” voter fraud and noncitizen voting, a political priority that has already prompted tighter proof-of-citizenship verification requirements in the leadup to the 2026 elections.
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As outlined in Friday’s emergency order, plaintiffs brought the case because of their belief that “in the lead-up to the election, high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials have engaged in a campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees who are engaged in administering the ongoing midterm 2026 election.”
“Specifically, Defendants have threatened the criminal prosecution of state and local election workers if they process and count ballots using procedures required by federal and state law,” the plaintiffs said.
Over the past few weeks, the DOJ has sent out letters—in some cases “delivered by armed DHS officials”—to election officials across the U.S., warning them of investigations and criminal penalties that will follow if they fail to preserve records or process ballots of those the government alleges are ineligible to vote.
“On October 13, 2026 Defendants sent letters demanding that the California Secretary of State and Los Angeles County Registrar California officials sequester the ballots of approximately 20,000 registered California voters whom Defendants ‘believe’ are ‘likely’ non-citizens,” the order reads. “When the State and Los Angeles County refused, Defendants sued them in the Central District of California.”
“Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters,” District Judge Thompson wrote upon granting the temporary restraining order.
What Does the Order Do?
Thompson said that the defendants’ actions likely violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Constitution’s Elections Clause and its Fifth and Tenth Amendments. While not a final judgment on the original lawsuit, Friday’s order temporarily blocks some of the government’s election-enforcement efforts.
The departments are therefore barred from demanding that states remove specific individuals from voter registration lists or treat these ballots differently, and from threatening “state or local election officials and workers with criminal prosecution” if they fail to comply with the DOJ demands.
"Defendants shall not threaten state or local election officials and workers with criminal prosecution for processing or counting ballots in the 2026 election in compliance with state and federal laws that govern election administration on the basis that a ballot belongs to an individual alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote," it continues.
The order expires on Nov. 16, 2026.
Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.
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