On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court partially upheld an Arizona law that requires proof of citizenship for voters registering for state elections. The court decided 5-4 that Arizona must reject voter registration applications that do not provide proof of citizenship for state races.
Currently, voters in Arizona need to show proof of citizenship only when registering with state forms, not federal ones. However, the court did not allow a part of the law that would have required proof of citizenship for federal form registrations.
Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas supported the entire law, while Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Amy Coney Barrett did not. This decision will stay in place while the appeals process continues with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), praised the decision, calling it a win for election integrity. He said, “American elections must be decided by American citizens.”
Earlier this year, a federal district court had struck down part of the Arizona law, prompting the RNC to appeal. The Ninth Circuit then made mixed decisions on enforcing the law, leading the RNC to request the Supreme Court’s intervention.
The Biden administration, the Arizona Democratic Party, and Arizona’s attorney general opposed the RNC’s appeal, arguing that the law could unfairly affect eligible voters. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes expressed concern about the timing of the change, saying it could confuse voters but promised to implement the changes while protecting voter access.
The Arizona law, signed by Republican Governor Doug Ducey in 2022, was challenged for possibly overriding the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993. The NVRA provides federal registration forms that only require a signed statement of citizenship, not proof.
House Republicans proposed a bill called the SAVE Act to add proof-of-citizenship requirements to NVRA forms, but it has not yet been considered by the Democrat-controlled Senate. The NVRA already makes it illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, and violators have been prosecuted.
Former Federal Election Commission chairman Hans Von Spakovsky believes that if the SAVE Act passes, more states might implement similar laws. House Speaker Mike Johnson warned about potential election interference due to a large number of immigrants, urging Congress to pass the SAVE Act.
In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden won Arizona by a narrow margin of 10,457 votes.