David O. Carter

Rule Changes

Closed the Justice Department's California mail-ballot case on Nov. 10 and wrote that the suit tried to disrupt an election.

The Supreme Court refused on Nov. 2 to let the Justice Department set aside about 20,000 California mail ballots. The department dropped its lawsuit on Nov. 6, and a federal judge in Los Angeles closed the case on Nov. 10, writing that the suit tried to "disrupt an ongoing election and create confusion and uncertainty."

Updated Yesterday

Rule Changes

Closed the Justice Department's California mail-ballot suit on Nov. 10 after the department moved to dismiss it.

A federal judge in Miami dismissed a criminal case against a noncitizen accused of illegally voting in 2020 and ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 611, the 1996 law making noncitizen voting a federal misdemeanor, is unconstitutional as applied to her. The Justice Department has appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.

Updated Yesterday

Rule Changes

Rejected the DOJ's request to stop counting the flagged ballots on Oct. 28 and named Daniel B. Garrie special master on Oct. 29. The Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court refused to intervene. On Nov. 6 the DOJ moved to dismiss; Carter has not ruled on that request.

The Supreme Court refused on Nov. 2 to make California set aside about 20,000 mail ballots until their citizenship could be checked. California held its midterm election the next day with those ballots in the count.

Updated 2 days ago

Rule Changes

Presided over California ballot case; DOJ dropped its segregation bid on November 6

The Justice Department wants unredacted voter files from every state that keeps registration records, including names, birth dates, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, for roughly 160 million registered voters. It sued 31 jurisdictions that refused. Courts have dismissed 27 of those suits, Oklahoma settled, and three remain pending.

Updated 3 days ago

Rule Changes

Presiding over the LAHSA case; issued preliminary injunction and subsequent orders

A federal judge on Tuesday kept the Trump administration's suspension of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) on hold. The joint city-county agency can keep running key homelessness systems while it hands its federal roles to L.A. County. Roughly $240 million in federal homelessness money keeps flowing through LAHSA while its lawsuit plays out.

Updated Nov 1