The Justice Department Breaks With Decades of Tradition to Intervene in the Midterms — and Courts Have Rejected Both of Its Big Cases

President Donald Trump's Justice Department has intervened directly in Tuesday's midterm elections, breaking with decades of practice meant to avoid the appearance that federal law enforcement powers are being used to benefit a party or a candidate, Reuters reported on Monday. In California, the department sought to set aside mail-in ballots from about 20,000 voters it alleges are likely noncitizens ineligible to vote, and demanded records in a related criminal probe. California says it has measures in place to prevent voting by noncitizens and argues the department has no authority to block votes.

In Alaska, the department intensified a criminal investigation into whether a Senate candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan entered the race to confuse voters alongside Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan, and sued to block certification of the result if Sullivan narrowly loses. US District Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage dismissed that lawsuit on Sunday, finding Alaska could not conduct such a probe while preserving the secrecy of ballots. Courts have now rejected the department's lawsuits against both states; the department has appealed the Alaska decision.

Attorney General Todd Blanche says the department's efforts are lawful and aim to protect the integrity of the vote. "The Department isn't helping any campaign. It's enforcing the law," spokesperson Kiersten Pels said. Critics answer that the machinery has changed underneath the cases: the Public Integrity Section, the career unit that long advised prosecutors to wait until results are certified before intervening, has been cut in size, and a requirement that federal prosecutors consult it on election-corruption probes has been suspended — leaving unresolved disputes to be decided, former officials say, in ways the department rarely attempted before votes were counted.