Judge Orders that Santa Ana City Council’s Biased Noncitizen Ballot Measure Language Must Be Deleted

A victory for honest voting.  It was not a GOP organization that filed suit to stop a measure from going on the Santa Ana ballot with biased language to allow illegal aliens to vote in “local” elections.  It was the United State Justice Foundation and the California Public Policy Foundation that did the work.

“Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Knill ruled Monday in favor of a lawsuit against the Santa Ana City Council seeking to remove biased and illegal language from a November ballot measure that if approved, would allow for noncitizen voting in city elections.   The lawsuit alleged that wording in the Ballot Measure characterizing noncitizens as “including those who are taxpayers and parents” unlawfully violated the California Elections Code by creating a prejudice on the ballot to encourage voters to vote for the measure.  The Judge’s Order is available here: https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Hearing-on-Petition-1.pdf.  A copy of the lawsuit as filed is available here:  https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Petition-for-Writ-of-Mandate-1.pdf.  An image of the ballot measure with the biased wording to be deleted from the Measure is highlighted in yellow is at the end of this release.”

Thanks to Chad Morgan, Jim Lacy and the other attorneys that worked on this, on behalf of all Californians.

Judge Orders that Santa Ana City Council’s Biased Noncitizen Ballot Measure Language Must Be Deleted

James Lacy, United States Justice Foundation,  6/5/24    https://usjf.net/
      Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Knill ruled Monday in favor of a lawsuit against the Santa Ana City Council seeking to remove biased and illegal language from a November ballot measure that if approved, would allow for noncitizen voting in city elections.   The lawsuit alleged that wording in the Ballot Measure characterizing noncitizens as “including those who are taxpayers and parents” unlawfully violated the California Elections Code by creating a prejudice on the ballot to encourage voters to vote for the measure.  The Judge’s Order is available here: https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Hearing-on-Petition-1.pdf.  A copy of the lawsuit as filed is available here:  https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Petition-for-Writ-of-Mandate-1.pdf.  An image of the ballot measure with the biased wording to be deleted from the Measure is highlighted in yellow is at the end of this release.

     The lead Plaintiff in the lawsuit, James V. Lacy, said “the Santa Ana City Council’s attempt to “rig” the ballot in the up-coming election will be corrected by this judicial Order.  We will see if Santa Ana challenges it.”   Lacy is joined in the litigation by the United States Justice Foundation, which he heads, the California Public Policy Foundation, and a Santa Ana resident.  According to the Order, the City of Santa Ana may appear at a hearing on June 14 to try to make arguments to challenge the ruling.  It is unknown whether the City will do that.

     The Orange County Register first reported on the Judge’s Order today, here: https://www.ocregister.com/2024/06/05/city-of-santa-ana-ordered-by-court-to-amend-noncitizen-voting-ballot-measure-language/

      Lacy’s lawsuit does not seek to pull the Measure from the ballot, but instead simply to remove the biased language presented to voters.  Noncitizen voting is not allowed in Federal elections, but some local jurisdictions have been attempting to introduce it in their elections in California.  Lacy is an opponent of noncitizen voting, and has previously litigated against it in San Francisco and Oakland, winning a case against the San Francisco Unified School District, which was, however, overturned on appeal, in the state court system.  Lacy has stated future litigations against efforts to establish noncitizen voting in California will be filed in Federal Courts on Constitutional grounds, “where we think we can get a better result.”

     In late May more than 50 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted with Republicans to repeal noncitizen voting in the District of Columbia.

     The legal filing was prepared by attorney Chad Morgan.  Last year, Lacy and USJF, a conservative public interest legal foundation, was successful in its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in Federal Court in Orange County against the State Department for disclosure of otherwise secret communications between Hunter Biden and then Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding Ukraine.  USJF subsequently shared the information with the House Oversight Committee.  That case was decided by Federal Judge David Carter, in Lacy v. U.S. Dep’t of State, No. SA CV 22-1065- DOC, 2023 WL 4317659 (C.D. Cal. May 3, 2023), and USJF was awarded over $81,000 in attorneys’ fees.