The DOJ and California are at war in court. Online, it's even worse

While a consequential hearing played out as part of the Department of Justice's attempt to usurp California's election authority , Gov. Gavin Newsom was busy scoring points in the court of public opinion.

"WOW! Second Assistant Bill just admitted to the court: 'Won't stand here and tell the court the list is 100%'" Newsom's press team wrote in an X post targeting Bill Essayli, one of the lead prosecutors in the DOJ's lawsuit. "Trump's claims are crumbling in real time."

Newsom's insult was layered. He was not only attacking Essayli's aggressive efforts to identify alleged voter fraud and attack California's election processes, but poking fun at Essayli's unusual title. President Donald Trump's administration initially appointed Essayli, a firebrand conservative and former Assembly member, as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles last year. Essayli didn't go through Senate confirmation, so the DOJ used a loophole that allowed him to continue running the federal prosecutor's office under a "first assistant" title.

This month, Essayli sued California, asking a court to force the state to sequester the ballots of 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters . While Essayli has repeatedly said the names have been thoroughly vetted, the federal government has acknowledged in court documents and public statements that some names could appear on the list by mistake. At a hearing Tuesday, Essayli said in court that the list contained "prospective noncitizens." Newsom's press team has therefore taken to calling Essayli " second assistant " because they claim he doesn't understand election law.

Essayli, for his part, has also taken to name-calling the governor and launching personal insults against other Democrats who've criticized the DOJ's lawsuit - while claiming in court that the federal government is taking a collaborative approach to working with California officials.

"Hey Fraud King," Essayli wrote in an Oct. 24 post targeting Newsom after the governor called the DOJ's claims an "absolute clown show."

"You're not allowed to have any noncitizens on your voter rolls. 'Period. Full stop,'" Essayli said, mocking one of Newsom's favorite phrases.

The tit-for-tat social media war has become a petty sideshow in a larger legal spectacle with far-reaching consequences for voting rights, election integrity and democracy itself, while highlighting how today's hyperpartisan politics often rewards brazen personal attacks over substantive policy debates.

"It's all pretty juvenile," said Sacramento-based Democratic strategist Steve Maviglio. "There's an expression guys use, but we won't go there."

While Maviglio condemned the DOJ's lawsuit as an attempt by Trump to rally his base before an election, he also criticized the social media posts as a distraction.

"It's kind of shameful because it really dilutes the real policy debates people should be having about these issues and lowers it to third-grade name calling," Maviglio said.

Justin Levitt, a constitutional law professor at Loyola Law School and former DOJ attorney, said the squabbling was anything but normal. But he made a distinction between Newsom and Essayli's online antics, saying that while the governor was "trolling" in a way that has become a "feature of the Trump era" for politicians, Essayli had broken longstanding DOJ precedent.

"The Department of Justice and state law enforcement agencies enforce the law and are called upon to enforce the law on behalf of all of us, without fear or favor, without partisan motivation, and making sure we all believe the Department of Justice is rigorously neutral," Levitt said.

One of Essayli's more contentious posts targeted Rep. Dave Min, D-Costa Mesa (Orange County), after the congressman recently called for Essayli to " lose his bar license " and be "personally sued for defamation and criminally investigated" if it turns out the DOJ had falsely charged 28 Californians it arrested as part of a recent federal election-fraud investigation.

In response , Essayli posted photos of Min's arrest in 2023 when he was cited for a misdemeanor DUI.

"As a convicted criminal and attorney, you should know a federal judge reviewed and approved the arrest warrants for all defendants," Essayli wrote. "We stand by our cases. More arrests of noncitizens who voted in California are coming. We will not let you disenfranchise any American citizen by diluting their vote."

In a statement, Min said Essayli should be held accountable for what he described as repeated violations of federal law and an abuse of power for political purposes.

"Just days before the election, he is trying to interfere in this election, against all guidance that he is supposed to follow," Min said. "Because he is the poster child for incompetence and corruption, his claims are falling apart in real time. But his criminal intent is clear, and he should face the full extent of the law."

It's unclear how such partisan online attacks help either side's legal strategy or what the point of the mockery is other than to rally supporters and score political points. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment on Essayli's posts. In a statement, Newsom's team described their posts as a fact-checking mission.

"If by forcing Fox News and MAGA politicians to come to terms with the facts, and be confronted with their misinformation, then yes - we've been trolling," Newsom's spokesperson Brandon Richards wrote in an email.

Matt Rexroad, a Republican political consultant in California, was more critical of Newsom's press team using a government social media account for what he described as a "political operation" ahead of the governor's likely 2028 presidential run.

"I can't think of anyone who is considered to be a really good elected official who is engaging in that type of behavior," Rexroad said. "In some ways it's a race to the bottom."

Newsom's use of social media over the last year has drawn criticism from both Democrats and Republicans who consider his online mudslinging unprofessional - and hypocritical, considering he often accuses Trump of behavior unbecoming of the Oval Office. Newsom has defended his use of an army of online trolls as a way of using the president's own strategies against him.

Levitt said he didn't "love" that kind of online bickering, but noted Newsom and Essayli hold very different roles. He emphasized that what seems on its surface like a silly social media war is contributing to the dismantling of a 150-year-old federal institution.

"Even if other officials act like 12-year-olds, the job [Essayli] signed up to do comes with an obligation not to respond," Levitt said. "I think by engaging in this nonsense, he's not doing his job. Worse than that, he's demonstrated an inability to do his job."

The federal judge overseeing Tuesday's hearing appeared skeptical of the DOJ's bid to block California from counting any ballots cast by the alleged noncitizens it said are on the state's voting rolls, with an official ruling expected on Wednesday.

While the case continues, so does the trolling. After another federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Essayli was "unlawfully serving as a 'de facto' United States Attorney," Democrats seized on the chance to needle him.

"Bye bye Bill," Min wrote .

"After being recently demoted to Second Assistant, a federal judge rules that's still too high a position," Newsom's press team posted .

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This article originally published at The DOJ and California are at war in court. Online, it's even worse .