The Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 margin to partially approve a request from the Republican National Committee that would make people in Arizona show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett however voted against the measure and sided with the liberal justices. Coney Barrett previously broke ranks with her conservative counterparts on the bench when they ruled in favor of Ohio against the EPA regarding its ‘Good Neighbor’ plan to limit air pollutants.
The majority allowed for one of three provisions of Arizona voting law to be enforced, however three conservative justices—Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch—said they would have allowed all three provisions to be enforced. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh were the holds outs.
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The court kept on hold separate provisions that could have disqualified certain voters from casting ballots in a presidential contest or by mail. That means Arizona voters can still register using a federal form and vote.
Some 42,301 voters in Arizona were only registered to vote in federal elections, which may be indicative of how many voters did not present proof of citizenship on their state voter registration forms, according to the Arizona secretary of state’s office.
In 2020, President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.
The law required the Arizona state attorney general to use “all available resources to verify the citizenship” of voters. The DOJ and DNC immediately sued to stop the implementation of the law.
Requirements to vote based on the law.
Arizona State LegislatureA Clinton-appointed circuit court judge, Susan Bolton, ruled in March that the law was not discriminatory as the plaintiffs had alleged.
“Considering the evidence as a whole, the court concludes that Arizona’s interests in preventing non-citizens from voting and promoting public confidence in Arizona’s elections outweighs the limited burden voters might encounter when required to provide (proof of citizenship),” Bolton wrote in her decision.
The RNC then pushed to get the law back into enforcement for the 2024 election, just ahead of the first ballots being sent out on Sept. 21 in Arizona.
The RNC’s Aug. 9 application was then referred to Justice Elina Kagan, who then referred it to the court to be voted on.
The Biden administration and the Harris campaign have not returned the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
On Sept. 10, oral arguments before the 9th Circuit on whether voters who have previously registered without proof of citizenship documents can vote in president elections, will begin.
