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Appeals court hears Justice Department bid over 20,000 California ballots

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 4 outlets, mostly left-leaning (75%).

4 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Stacked yellow mail-in ballot envelopes in a United States Postal Service tray, close-up.
Image via The New York TimesHow images are chosenReport this image

ABC News, The Hill, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times report that a federal appeals court held a rare Sunday hearing in the Justice Department’s voting lawsuit against California. The Justice Department asks the court to order state officials to set aside about 20,000 ballots from voters it says are likely noncitizens. According to The Hill and the Los Angeles Times, Judge Mark Bennett questioned whether the court had jurisdiction and whether the requested order fits California’s election law. Matthew Donnelly, a Justice Department attorney, told the court the administration has good reason to believe the ballots came from ineligible voters. The New York Times reports that the panel appeared disinclined to order the state to set aside the ballots.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. A federal appeals court held a Sunday hearing in the Justice Department’s voting lawsuit against California.

    Reported byLeft3Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    ABC News, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times
    Center
    The Hill

  2. The Justice Department asks the court to order state officials to set aside about 20,000 ballots from voters it says are likely noncitizens.

    Reported byLeft2Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Los Angeles Times, The New York Times
    Center
    The Hill

  3. Judge Mark Bennett said he did not see how the court had jurisdiction over the request.

    One outletThe Hill· Center

  4. Judge Mark Bennett said California has the right to set the manner of its elections under the Elections Clause, and that the requested order would be inconsistent with state law.

    One outletLos Angeles Times· Left

  5. Matthew Donnelly, a Justice Department attorney, said the administration has good reason to believe the ballots came from ineligible noncitizen voters.

    One outletLos Angeles Times· Left

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • Whether the ballots at issue were cast by noncitizens

    Donnelly, a Justice Department attorney, said the administration has good reason to believe the ballots came from ineligible noncitizen voters (Los Angeles Times). Judge Mark Bennett and the appeals panel questioned the legal basis for the requested order and appeared disinclined to grant it (Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Hill).

How each side tells it

Compare views

Every side reports that a federal appeals court held a Sunday hearing on the Justice Department’s request to set aside about 20,000 California ballots. Left-side outlets stress the panel’s doubts about the administration’s legal basis, while the center outlet stresses the court’s reluctance to act immediately.

  • the left

    3 outlets

    Left headlines lead with the appeals court’s doubts about the Justice Department’s case, while the ABC headline only announces the hearing.

    Appeals Court Appears to Doubt Justice Dept. Claims in California Ballot Case
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    1 outlet

    The headline frames the appeals court as resisting the Justice Department’s bid to immediately segregate 20,000 ballots.

    Appeals court Loaded verb“resists”The verb casts the court as opposing the administration, while the description reports only that the court appeared unlikely to agree and was skeptical.More neutral: is skeptical ofDisagree with this highlight? DOJ's bid to immediately segregate 20k California ballots
    The HillCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    No coverage yet

    No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left1

    force

  • Center1

    resists

  • Right

    Has not covered this story.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded verb

    resistsMore neutral: is skeptical of

    The verb casts the court as opposing the administration, while the description reports only that the court appeared unlikely to agree and was skeptical.

    Appeals court resists DOJ's bid to immediately segregate 20k California ballots

    Used byThe Hill (Center)

  • Loaded verb

    forceMore neutral: require

    The word adds a sense of compulsion to a request that the excerpt describes as a bid the court has yet to decide.

    …request to intervene in California’s ongoing midterm election in order to force state officials to set aside 20,000 ballots from voters whose citizenship it questions…

    Used byLos Angeles Times (Left)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

3 outlets

Leads with

  • appeals court skepticism toward DOJ
  • legal basis for the ballot request
  • limits set by state law and the Constitution
See the 3 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • court reluctance to act immediately
  • judge’s jurisdiction doubts
  • need for a faster trial-court ruling
See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • The HillCenter

    Appeals court Loaded verb“resists”The verb casts the court as opposing the administration, while the description reports only that the court appeared unlikely to agree and was skeptical.More neutral: is skeptical ofDisagree with this highlight? DOJ's bid to immediately segregate 20k California ballots

    A federal appeals court appeared unlikely to immediately agree to the Trump administration’s bid to segregate 20,000 California ballots it says are likely noncitizen voters, expressing skepticism at a rare Sunday hearing that a trial judge needs to move quicker. …

    Read at The Hill (opens in a new tab)

From the right

0 outlets

No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    ABC News, Oct 25, 1:05 PM EDT

  • Center

    4 hr 57 min later

    Its first report, Oct 25, 6:02 PM EDT

  • Right

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. ABC NewsLeftOct 25, 1:05 PM EDT
  2. The HillCenterOct 25, 6:02 PM EDT
  3. Los Angeles TimesLeftOct 25, 6:54 PM EDT
  4. The New York TimesLeftOct 25, 7:00 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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