The US Supreme Court has partly granted the GOP request to enforce Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship voting law, while rejecting other GOP requirements
The US Supreme Court has partly granted the GOP request to enforce Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship voting law, while rejecting other GOP requirements.
A divided Supreme Court has partially granted an emergency request from the Republican National Committee (RNC) to enforce an Arizona law that mandates documentary proof of citizenship for voting. Specifically, the ruling allows the state to require such proof for individuals registering to vote using a state form.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch would have fully granted the RNC's request, while Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have fully denied it.
The GOP approached the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court upheld a district court's injunction against the law. The RNC, along with Arizona's state Senate president and House speaker, sought to immediately pause the injunction in two areas: (1) requiring Arizona to accept state voter registration applications without documentary proof of citizenship, and (2) allowing voters who haven't provided such proof to vote by mail or for president.
The Supreme Court's Thursday order rejected the GOP's request concerning voting for president and by mail.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes opposed the GOP's move, arguing that "a stay this close to an election will create chaos and confusion, and in turn undermine the credibility of our elections." The federal government also opposed the stay, warning that intervention could disrupt the election process and disenfranchise thousands of voters who registered using the federal form.
The "federal form" refers to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states to "accept and use" a standard federal form for voter registration in federal elections. This form requires voters to attest under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens, but does not require documentary proof. Arizona's 2022 law, however, mandates such proof for those voting by mail or in presidential elections and for voters registering with the state form.