Judge likely to delay Trump ballot ruling past election Play

How is the Trump administration doing in its legal battle trying to stop California from counting its ballots next week? Not so good.

A federal judge on Monday said he's going to issue a formal ruling Tuesday, but Judge David Carter said he's likely to appoint a special master to weigh the evidence from the U.S. Justice Department and the president about illegal voters. But he's not going to do that for two weeks, meaning his final ruling probably won't come until after the election — until after we get vote returns.

Monday, Carter urged federal prosecutors to knock it off with the threat of criminal charges against LA County vote counters if they don't comply with Trump administration demands.

Bill Essayli, who calls himself the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, acknowledged that the government's list of 20,000 suspicious voters may contain U.S. citizens who are perfectly entitled to register and vote. But he told the court the possibility that non-citizens are on that list was too great a threat not to act. The judge didn't buy that argument.