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Appeals court rejects Justice Department bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 7 outlets, mostly left-leaning (72%).

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

Election workers processing mail ballots at tables in a large office, with a restricted area sign in front.
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A federal appeals court rejected a Justice Department request that California set aside about 20,000 mail-in ballots, according to reports from The Hill, Epoch Times, NBC News and CBS News. The request rests on the Trump administration’s claim that the ballots may come from noncitizens. The New York Times reports the panel voted 2–1. The Hill reports that the panel did not dispute a lower court’s finding that the list was not credible. The ruling came days before the Nov. 3 midterm election, and the panel said Congress, not the courts, should decide whether different procedures are needed for mail 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 rejected the Justice Department’s request that California set aside about 20,000 mail-in ballots.

    Reported byFar Left1Left4Center1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    Raw Story
    Left
    Los Angeles Times, CBS News, The New York Times, NBC News
    Center
    The Hill
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times

  2. The Trump administration says the ballots may come from noncitizen voters.

    Reported byFar Left1Left1Center1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    Raw Story
    Left
    NBC News
    Center
    The Hill
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times

  3. The ruling was a 2–1 decision by the appeals panel.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The New York Times
    Center
    The Hill
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times

  4. The panel did not dispute a lower court’s finding that the noncitizen list was not credible, and said the government had not shown it was clearly entitled to emergency relief days before the midterm election.

    Reported byFar Left1Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    Raw Story
    Center
    The Hill

  5. The panel said federal law on noncitizen voting does not override California’s mail-ballot procedures, and that any change should come from Congress rather than the courts.

    Reported byFar Left1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Far Left
    Raw Story
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times

How each side tells it

Compare views

Left and center headlines stress repeated rulings against Trump, while the right-rated Epoch Times frames it as a setback in DOJ’s alleged voter-fraud effort. All three sides report that a federal appeals court rejected the Justice Department’s bid to set aside 20,000 California mail-in ballots, by a 2–1 vote.

  • the left

    5 outlets

    Left headlines frame the event as another court defeat for Trump or the administration; the NYT uses “impound”, and Raw Story, the far end of the side, calls the request a scheme.

    Appeals Court Again Rejects Trump Effort to Impound California Ballots
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    1 outlet

    The Hill’s headline frames the ruling as a defeat for Trump personally, marked by “again”, while its description gives the administration’s noncitizen claim and the court’s 2–1 split.

    Appeals court rules against Trump — again — on California ballots
    The HillCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    1 outlet

    Epoch Times, the only right-side article and rated Far Right, uses neutral wording that names the DOJ and frames the case as a setback in its effort to root out alleged voter fraud.

    Appeals Court Rejects DOJ Request for California to Set Aside 20,000 Ballots
    The Epoch TimesFar RightAll right-leaning headlines

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.

  • Left2

    assert control over state-run electionsballot scheme

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded verb

    assert control over state-run electionsMore neutral: challenge over state-run elections

    The phrase attributes a motive of seizing control to the administration, where a neutral description of its challenge to state election procedures was available.

    …is the latest setback for the Trump administration's efforts to assert control over state-run elections.

    Used byCBS News (Left)

  • Delegitimizing label

    ballot schemeMore neutral: ballot request

    Calls the Justice Department’s request a scheme, which assumes bad faith before any court has found it.

    Trump-appointed judge casts deciding vote against DOJ’s ‘catastrophic’ ballot scheme

    Used byRaw Story (Far 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

5 outlets

Leads with

  • repeated court losses for the Trump administration
  • constitutional limits on federal ballot demands
  • the claim that ballots may belong to noncitizens
See the 5 headlines from the leftHide the headlines
  • Raw StoryFar Left

    Trump-appointed judge casts deciding vote against DOJ’s ‘catastrophic’ Delegitimizing label“ballot scheme”Calls the Justice Department’s request a scheme, which assumes bad faith before any court has found it.More neutral: ballot requestDisagree with this highlight?

    A federal appeals court on Friday denied the Justice Department’s emergency request to order California to set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 alleged “likely noncitizens,” finding the government hadn’t shown it was clearly entitled to the extraordinary relief days before …

    Read at Raw Story (opens in a new tab)
  • NBC NewsLeft

    Appeals court again rejects DOJ’s bid to segregate over 20,000 alleged noncitizen ballots in California

    A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s latest bid to force California to set aside ballots from over 20,000 people it alleges might be noncitizens.

    Read at NBC News (opens in a new tab)
  • The New York TimesLeft

    Appeals Court Again Rejects Trump Effort to Impound California Ballots

    In a 2-to-1 vote, an appeals court panel declined to order the state to set aside more than 20,000 mail-in ballots, calling the notion plainly unconstitutional.

    Read at The New York Times (opens in a new tab)
  • CBS NewsLeft

    Appeals court rejects DOJ bid to set aside disputed California ballots

    The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department's request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election.

    Read at CBS News (opens in a new tab)
  • Los Angeles TimesLeft

    9th Circuit again denies Trump administration request to block 20,000 California ballots

    Federal grand jury subpoenas have demanded that county elections officials turn over internal communications and testify, raising concerns that investigations could intimidate workers.

    Read at Los Angeles Times (opens in a new tab)

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • the administration’s noncitizen claim
  • the lower court’s finding that the list is not credible
  • the 2–1 panel split
See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • The HillCenter

    Appeals court rules against Trump — again — on California ballots

    A split federal appeals court panel again rejected the Trump administration's bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots it says are likely noncitizens until they can be verified. The 2-1 majority on the U.S. …

    Read at The Hill (opens in a new tab)

From the right

1 outlet

Leads with

  • the DOJ’s alleged voter-fraud effort
  • the Elections Clause and the Constitution’s text
  • Congress, not the courts, as the venue for changes
See the headline from the rightHide the headlines

The stories you read build My Mix, a private picture of which sides cover the stories you choose, 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

    Los Angeles Times, Oct 30, 3:16 PM EDT

  • Center

    34 min later

    Its first report, Oct 30, 3:50 PM EDT

  • Right

    1 hr 15 min later

    Its first report, Oct 30, 4:31 PM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Los Angeles TimesLeftOct 30, 3:16 PM EDT
  2. CBS NewsLeftOct 30, 3:40 PM EDT
  3. The New York TimesLeftOct 30, 3:49 PM EDT
  4. The HillCenterOct 30, 3:50 PM EDT
  5. NBC NewsLeftOct 30, 4:09 PM EDT
  6. The Epoch TimesFar RightOct 30, 4:31 PM EDT
  7. Raw StoryFar LeftOct 30, 4:40 PM EDT

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

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