SCOTUS Partly Backs AZ Law Requiring Citizenship Proof To Vote
The article discusses a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that partially reinstates Arizona’s proof of citizenship law for voters ahead of the 2024 election. In a close 5-4 decision, the court allowed for the enforcement of the law requiring documentary proof of citizenship for residents using state voter registration forms. This decision was made in response to a request from the Republican National Committee and Arizona’s GOP leadership, who sought to revive the law after a lower court ruling had prohibited its enforcement. However, the justices did not grant the requested stay on other provisions related to voting in presidential contests and mail-in ballots. The ruling is seen as a significant victory for Republicans, who assert it will help prevent non-citizen voting, while Democrats, including representatives from the Biden administration, opposed the law citing concerns about potential voter disenfranchisement.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court partially granted Republicans’ request to allow for the 2024 election an Arizona law requiring voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court granted in part an emergency request by the Republican National Committee and Arizona’s GOP legislative leadership to place a stay on a lower court ruling that prohibited the law’s enforcement. Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh comprised the majority, while Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.
As The Federalist previously reported, the 2022 statute mandated residents to show documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) when registering via state voter registration forms. It also required such proof for individuals submitting mail-in ballots and voting in presidential contests. (In Arizona, individuals who do not provide DPOC when registering to vote are permitted to do so as “federal-only voters” and only cast ballots in federal elections).
Thursday’s SCOTUS order allows the law’s DPOC requirement for registering via state voter registration forms to take effect for the 2024 election. The high court did not, however, grant Republicans’ request to place a stay on the part of the lower court’s ruling prohibiting enforcement of the provisions requiring DPOC for individuals voting in presidential contests and casting ballots via mail.
Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch would have granted Republicans’ request for stay “in full,” according to the order.
According to AZ Free News, more than 11,600 individuals voted via “federal-only” ballots during the Grand Canyon State’s 2020 election. That’s larger than Joe Biden’s margin of victory (10,457 votes) over Donald Trump.
“Huge win: the Supreme Court just ruled that the state of Arizona must REJECT state voter registration forms without proof of US citizenship,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley wrote on X. “A seismic win in the fight to stop non-citizens from voting — more to come!”
The Biden-Harris Department of Justice and Arizona’s attorney general and secretary of state, both Democrats, filed motions asking SCOTUS to deny Republicans’ request. Aruging on behalf of the administration, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar baselessly claimed that “judicial intervention at this stage would undermine the orderly administration of the election, risking the disfranchisement of thousands of voters who have already registered to vote using the federal form.”
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