A bipartisan group of former governors reached for an unlikely ally to take on President Donald Trump's Justice Department over uncounted ballots. On Thursday, 28 former governors from both parties filed a brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals leaning on the words of former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to fight the DOJ's lawsuit seeking to stop California officials from counting thousands of ballots.
The governors cited an April 2025 Wall Street Journal op-ed in which McConnell wrote that elections "may have national consequences but the power to conduct them rests in state capitols." They also quoted his line that the "delegation of authority over election administration is crystal clear." The brief, filed in support of California and a group of immigrant rights advocates who joined the case, calls the lawsuit "a brazenly unlawful and dangerous effort by the federal executive to usurp states' authority to administer elections." Signers include former California…