Fact Check: Did a judge threaten to rule California election unlawful if they didn't stop counting?

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: Amid the controversies surrounding the allegations of election rigging in the California primary, a rumor began circulating on social media platforms claiming that a judge had ordered a stop to the vote counting or would declare the whole election unlawful, sparking criticisms and concerns. Let us fact-check the claim.

Claim: Judge orders to stop vote counting in California 

According to the viral claim, a California Superior Court judge in Santa Clarita Vista just gave officials until the end of business today to finish counting votes, or she will officially rule the entire election in the county unlawful. 

Justice Josephine Barron didn’t hold back in her ruling, allegedly stating, “The current administration has twisted the intent of our framers, who wanted accuracy, but also expediency. At this point, the plaintiff’s suspicions are becoming more realistic by the minute.” 

The post claims that the case was brought by the Citizens United National Trust Society, and the judge is clearly signaling that the endless “counting” in the state is no longer acceptable.

Fact Check: False, no credible evidence to back the claim

The claim, however, is false, as there are no reports in mainstream media about such a ruling. 

A search on Google for the keywords ‘judge orders to stop counting California votes,’ ‘judge threatened to rule the election unlawful,’ ‘Citizens United National Trust Society,’ or for the judge’s name yielded no credible reports by prominent news media outlets.

Also, the X account that posted the claim is not credible, and though not explicitly a parody account, has posted many such fake and unverified claims for the sake of engagement. 

A fact-check by Grok stated, “No California Superior Court judge named Josephine Barron exists, nor is there any jurisdiction called 'Santa Clarita Vista' (Santa Clarita is real, but ‘Vista’ here is fictional)."

"The plaintiff ‘Citizens United National Trust Society’ is a made-up satirical name with no court records. No such ruling was issued, and no credible news or official sources report it.”

Donald Trump slams California's slow vote count

The claim surfaced after President Donald Trump blasted California’s slow primary vote count as "rigged" earlier this month in  Wisconsin. 

“Can you imagine?” Trump asked the room. “It’s four days, and they still aren’t even close to telling you who won. You know why? Because they’re rigging the election, that’s why.” 

“I’m not a big fan of Spain, to be honest with you, it’s gone very far left, but they had an election,” he said. “Similar size to the state of California, a little larger, actually, and every vote was in by 10 o’clock in the evening and counted.”