California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on November 6 that the Justice Department has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against California election officials. The suit concerned a list of approximately 20,000 people the department "believes" are "likely" noncitizens, according to Bonta's office.

Bonta's office says the department dropped the case rather than face an evidentiary hearing before Judge David Carter on Friday, November 13. The court had ordered that hearing to examine the reliability of the list. Bonta's office says courts in other cases have raised concerns about similar lists, and that a Justice Department attorney in another case recently acknowledged the lists have a high rate of errors.

Bonta's office counts four court losses for the federal government in one week. On Monday, October 26, it says, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed the government's first emergency appeal after it tried to bypass the district court. On Wednesday, October 28, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied a request for a temporary restraining order.

On Friday, October 30, the Ninth Circuit denied the government's emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal, the office says. Then on Monday, November 2, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the administration's emergency application in the case.

Bonta said the administration would have faced tough questions in court about its list and chose to drop the case instead. He said California stood firm and prevailed. His office says the Constitution gives states and Congress, not the President, the authority to regulate the time, place and manner of elections.