Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce election reform laws that would prohibit Arizonans from voting for president or by mail, unless they provide proof of citizenship.
Two years ago, a series of voting rights groups sued to stop the election laws passed by Republican lawmakers from going into effect, calling the legislation an effort to disenfranchise voters.
The laws have been stuck in legal limbo ever since. A trial court judge partially upheld the laws in March, and the case is currently being reviewed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In July, the 9th Circuit issued a temporary stay ordering that anyone who tries to register to vote using a state form is required at the same time to provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a driver’s license.
But the appeals court recently reversed that ruling, prompting Republicans defending the law to file an emergency application for a stay with Associate Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday. The stay would again allow Arizona to enforce the proof of citizenship requirement ahead of the November elections.
“We just witnessed something that I've never even heard of and is highly irregular and unusual,” Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said of the 9th Circuit’s subsequent decision.
“It’s unheard of. It’s disturbing really, and I think the dissenting judge really said it well; it makes them look very political, and it causes them to lose credibility. … The standard is a ‘great manifest injustice’ and come on, requiring only U.S. citizens to vote? Allowing non-citizens to vote is a manifest injustice. The court is literally doing the opposite of what their own rules are requiring them to do,” Petersen added.
Petersen referred to a dissenting decision by Judge Patrick Bumatay.
“Unfortunately, we abandon regularity here,” Bumatay wrote. “Motions for reconsideration of a motions panel's order are not meant to be a second bite at the apple.”
Bumatay also referenced the “political nature of the case,” writing that “we should be especially careful to avoid the use of unconventional or disfavored procedures. In my mind, that concern alone should have been enough to deny Plaintiffs-Appellees' motion for reconsideration.”
Republicans are requesting the stay be issued by Aug. 22, which is the deadline for the state to print ballots.
“I believe the Supreme Court will overturn this so we’ll be able to make sure only citizens are voting in the state of Arizona,” Petersen said.
The case started out in federal district court in Arizona, where Judge Susan Bolton upheld some portions of the law and blocked others from going into effect. Both sides in the case appealed portions of that ruling to the 9th Circuit.
That litigation is still ongoing in the appeals court, even as Republicans seek action from the Supreme Court.
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The decision did not address any substantive claims of what’s in the manual, only the public comment period question, so it’s not clear how the ruling will affect future elections.
