Rep. Darrell Issa’s lawsuit seeking to prevent counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day could be thrown out of federal court on a technicality.
The glitch? Issa might not be eligible to sue.
Darrell issa lawsuit against Shirley Weber (PDF)In downtown federal court Friday, Judge Andrew G. Schopler raised the issue after a lawyer for East County Republican Issa argued that Curtis Morrison shouldn’t be allowed as an intervenor/defendant in the case.
Morrison, an immigration lawyer among four Democrats seeking Issa’s 48th Congressional District seat, doesn’t have standing to join the case because his presence on the November 2026 ballot is “speculative,” Issa lawyer Eric Lee said in a brief.
Lee said: “Mr. Morrison’s interest as a candidate in the general election is entirely speculative. It depends on him qualifying for the primary ballot and winning the primary, or at least finishing second. For that reason, Mr. Morrison’s interest as a candidate at this stage is not a significantly protectable one.”
But Judge Schopler turned that argument against Issa, suggesting that Issa also may lack standing for the same reason.
(Morrison noted in his own brief: “Rep. Issa never explains what causes him to believe the same issue would not apply to his own candidacy. Neither Rep. Issa’s wealth, his place within President Trump’s inner circle, nor his status as the incumbent officeholder excuses him from the same requirement that he must also qualify for the primary ballot, win the primary, or at least finish second.”)
Good news and fun news from today! Issa v Weber hearing! #CA48 pic.twitter.com/oXEoL2iXmD
— Curtis Morrison for Congress (@curtisforCA48) May 16, 2025Morrison mocked Issa in his May 7 brief.
“Rep. Issa’s complaint . . . asks the Court to presume that he will be a candidate in the general election throughout. Yet at the same time . . . Rep. Issa may not be fully committed to running himself, alleging in his complaint only that he ‘intends to run,’” Morrison wrote.
In the end, Schopler allowed Morrison to join the case.
Morrison told Times of San Diego: “Darrell Issa thinks he’s so special that he should get to litigate election law without his constituents, or even to other similarly situated congressional candidates, being present at the table. I’m glad the court shut down that nonsense.”
Also permitted as co-defendants with the original target — California Secretary of State Shirley Weber — are the League of Women Voters, the Oregon-based Vet Voice Foundation and the California Alliance of Retired Americans.
“By May 30, 2025, the parties must meet and confer and contact the Court with a proposed motion schedule for the anticipated motions to dismiss and preliminary-injunction motion,” Schopler said in a minute order. “Any motion to dismiss in this case must address the standing and ripeness issues discussed at today’s hearing.”
Issa has asked for a bench trial, and not a trial by jury.
The conservative legal group Judicial Watch filed suit March 13 on Issa’s behalf, and Weber’s response wasn’t due until Monday.
In a statement, ACLU attorney Ari Savitzky said his client, the League of Women Voters of California, was pleased that the judge allowed the group “to enter this case to defend pro-voter policies and the voting rights of league members and millions of Californians.”
Savitzky, with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said: “We look forward to telling the Court why Congressman Issa’s challenge to California’s common-sense mail ballot receipt deadline is wrong.”
He added: “In California, voters must cast their mail ballots by Election Day, and their ballots count even if the mail takes a few extra days [up to seven] to arrive.
“Congressman Issa says that a federal law from the 1800s that says nothing about mail ballots whatsoever and just sets a uniform Election Day bars this pro-voter rule. The League will ask the Court to reject this radical and baseless attack on voters.”
Issa and his legal team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In court Friday morning, Lee represented Issa. Defense attorneys besides Savitzky present were Julia A. Gomez, Morrison, Jennifer E. Rosenberg (remotely), William Kyle Hancock and Lalitha D. Madduri.
In his suit, Issa argues: “Despite Congress’ unambiguous and longstanding statement regarding a single and uniform national Election Day, California modified and extended Election Day by allowing seven additional days after Election Day for receipt of vote-by-mail ballots.”
Such “late-arriving ballots tend to favor Democratic candidates and provide an unfair electoral advantage for opponents of Republican congressional incumbents,” the suit said.
Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a law in three states that allowed ballots to be accepted after Election Day — though the ruling didn’t affect the 2024 election.
Issa’s suit argues that the state’s ballot receipt deadline extends Election Day and violates the First and 14th amendments and the Elections Clause of the Constitution. (The ballots must have been mailed by Election Day.)
Arguments for and against other parties joining Weber as defendants. (PDF)The longtime Republican congressman’s lawsuit says he intends to run for re-election in 2026, but “faces a material risk that he may lose future elections due to these unlawful ballots.”
The complaint also states that late-arriving ballots could harm Issa even if he wins the upcoming race, as the “plaintiff is injured when an electoral performance is seen as less impressive. An unimpressive result leads to the public perception that California voters are turning away from plaintiff’s message and platform.”
Secretary Weber of San Diego, the one-time school board president and Assembly member, said in March: “I will vigorously defend California’s common sense election laws and safeguard every voter’s right to have their ballot counted.”
In May 2020, amid the pandemic, Issa sued Gov. Gavin Newsom over his directive to send every registered voter a ballot for the November election. That July, the suit was dismissed by Judge Morrison England Jr. after the state Legislature acted to make it state law. Plaintiffs including the Republican National Committee moved to drop the case.
Issa voted absentee 16 times in the previous 20 years, according to county voting records. His mail ballots all arrived before Election Day.
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