Donald Trump's attorney urges Judge Edward Davila to allow him to intervene and become a party to the lawsuit. | AP Photo Trump seeks to intervene in Electoral College suit

For the second time in a week, Donald Trump has warned a federal judge that a lawsuit brought by a Democratic presidential elector could jeopardize his bid for the presidency.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Northern California, Trump's attorney urges Judge Edward Davila, a 2011 Barack Obama appointee, to allow him to intervene and become a party to the lawsuit, brought by California elector Vinz Koller.


Koller, the chairman of the Monterey County Democratic Party, is suing the state to invalidate a law that requires him to cast his electoral vote for the winner of California's popular vote when the Electoral College convenes on Dec. 19 to pick the next president.

Though Hillary Clinton won California, Koller and his allies are hopeful that a legal victory will undermine similar "binding" laws in 28 other states, including 14 in which Trump was the popular vote winner. Were those laws to be dismantled, anti-Trump members of the Electoral College are hoping to convince dozens of Republican electors to abandon Trump and block him from winning the presidency.

"If this Court invalidates California’s statute, similar state statutes across the land will be in question," Trump's attorney, Brian Selden, argues in a brief to the court. "Some of those laws directly affect the President-elect and the Campaign because those statutes bind electors to vote for the President-elect."

In the filing, Selden notes that California's own leaders have an interest in defending against the suit, but the Trump campaign should be able to intervene as well because of his "distinct interests."

"Among them (1) ensuring other states’ laws are respected, (2) ensuring that the Electoral College process is honored in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and (3) ensuring that Mr. Trump is officially elected to the presidency," Selden writes. "The state officials cannot represent these interests."

Democratic electors in Colorado and Washington state have filed similar suits. Selden described the Colorado lawsuit, brought by electors Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich, as "cookie-cutter."

In that matter, Bill Clinton-appointed Colorado Judge Wiley Daniel allowed Trump's motion to intervene. On Monday Daniel rejected the electors' request to prevent Colorado officials from enforcing their binding law. However, a lawyer for that state's electors says he plans to continue forging ahead.