Overview
- The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the Republican National Committee’s appeal of Arizona’s 2022 voting laws, with arguments set for the term beginning in October and a decision likely by mid-2027.
- The case raises two legal questions: whether Arizona may require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship from applicants who use the state registration form and whether it may run programs to cancel registrations of suspected noncitizens within 90 days of a federal election.
- Lower courts, including a federal district judge and a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel, blocked key parts of the laws, finding they conflict with the National Voter Registration Act and a 2018 consent decree that limits Arizona’s demands for extra documentation.
- Court records show about 19,000 to 20,000 Arizonans were registered as ‘federal-only’ voters because they had not supplied state-required proof of citizenship, a gap that underlies disputes about who would be affected by enforcement or purges.
- The case is sharply partisan: President Trump’s Justice Department backed the Republican appeal as election-security measures, while the Biden administration and voting-rights groups argue the laws would preempt federal rules and risk disenfranchising Latino, Native American and student voters.