Supreme Court Hands RNC A New Win

On Thursday, the Supreme Court reinstated a key provision of an Arizona law mandating documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, though it does not apply to presidential elections or mail-in voting. The decision, made by a 5-4 vote with conservative justices in the majority, allows the enforcement of this requirement for state-level elections. Consequently, if an individual registers to vote using Arizona’s state forms and fails to provide proof of citizenship, state officials are empowered to reject their registration.

This ruling represents a partial triumph for the Republican National Committee (RNC). While the Court has permitted the enforcement of one aspect of the 2022 Arizona law, it has temporarily halted other provisions. These other provisions would have barred individuals without proof of citizenship from voting in presidential elections or utilizing mail-in ballots, provided they registered using federal forms.

The conservative justices, including Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, supported the full enforcement of the law. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, joined the three liberal justices in dissent. The Court did not elaborate on its reasoning behind the decision.

Earlier this week, a coalition of twenty-four GOP-led states submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, advocating for the law’s upholding. Their brief highlighted that over 40,000 individuals in Arizona had registered to vote in federal elections without providing citizenship proof.

This case arrives amidst the build-up to the next election, where President Joe Biden narrowly defeated former President Donald Trump by about 10,000 votes in 2020. Democrats, alongside several voting rights organizations, argue that the law’s provisions are unconstitutional and breach a 2018 consent decree.

The Supreme Court’s involvement in this contentious issue has been described by Arizona Democrats as potentially “destabilizing” given the proximity to the upcoming election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The law’s journey through the courts has been fraught with controversy. A panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit previously blocked the law’s enforcement, only for another panel to reverse this decision, allowing voter registration for federal races without the citizenship proof requirement.

This law emerged in response to a 2013 Supreme Court ruling, which stated that the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 precluded Arizona from demanding additional information from federal form applicants. Justice Antonin Scalia had written that the Act limited Arizona’s ability to impose extra requirements. Current Justices Thomas and Alito had dissented from that ruling.

The RNC had urged the Supreme Court to act by August 22, the deadline for printing ballots, to allow the law to be in effect for the upcoming elections.