The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California regarding the counting of 20,000 illegal ballots.

Posted by The John Phillips Show, Oct 17, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 5 support2 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 80%

The John Phillips ShowOct 17, 2026

The Justice Department sued California and Los Angeles County on October 15, 2026, to stop the state from counting about 20,000 mail-in ballots tied to people it says are likely noncitizens, so the core claim holds as of the October 17 post date.

This claim is in the show notes, the publisher's own words. It counts against the post, once.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What we found

Supports. Multiple tier1 outlets report the DOJ sued in federal court on October 15 to block California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters it says are likely noncitizens.[1][3][4][5]

Supports. The AP and Reuters describe the DOJ's case as a suit under the Supremacy Clause over a 1996 federal law on noncitizen voting, with the 20,000-ballot list compiled by the Department of Homeland Security.[1][2]

Context. California officials dispute the list as highly unreliable and likely including many U.S. citizens, and a district judge denied the government's request to set the ballots aside, so the ballots' illegality is contested rather than established.[2][5]

Context. The Ninth Circuit declined to intervene on October 26 on procedural grounds, without ruling on the merits, which does not affect whether the lawsuit was filed.[4][6][7]