By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s leading legislative Republicans are taking their defense of election integrity laws to the nation’s high court.
Last week, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma filed an Emergency Application for Stay at the Supreme Court of the United States in RNC v. Mi Familia Vota. The brief was filed with Justice Elena Kagan in the ongoing dispute over HB 2492, which was passed in 2022.
According to the legislators’ brief, the relevant aspects of the law under challenge were the requirement for “elections officials to reject any state-form application that is not accompanied by documentary proof of citizenship,” and the provision “that voters who have not provided documentary proof of citizenship may not vote for president or by mail.”
In their brief, the lawmakers argue that “there is a reasonable probability that four justices would vote to grant review and a fair prospect that this Court would reverse,” and that “applicants will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay.”
The emergency petition to the U.S. Supreme Court follows a mixed – and rather unprecedented – ruling at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Last month, a panel on the court issued an order in support of the Arizona law’s requirement for proof of citizenship in state voter registrations. However, another panel on the same appeals court overturned this ruling, giving anyone in the state the ability to register to vote on a state form without first proving their citizenship.
After the shocking turn of events at the appeals court, Petersen had said, “This is just another example of why the radical Ninth Circuit is the most overturned circuit in the nation. They routinely engage in judicial warfare to carry out their extremist liberal agenda that’s contrary to the laws our citizens elected us to implement. We will seek assistance from the Supreme Court to ensure only American citizens are voting in our elections. If this principle is not followed, democracy as we know it, and as our Founding Fathers intended, is in jeopardy.”
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley stated: “Requiring proof of citizenship is common sense and fundamental to preserving the integrity of our elections – especially in our country’s most important presidential election. This application in the Supreme Court is pivotal to ensuring that Arizonans’ votes are not cancelled by non-citizens. Non-citizen voting is illegal and we are taking every possible action to ensure American elections are decided solely by Americans.”
Petersen and Toma make the case that “the improper injunction also harms the Arizona Legislature as an institution because it constitutes an extrinsic constraint on the Legislature’s lawmaking functions. The injunction thwarts the Legislature from disallowing individuals who have not proved their U.S. citizenship from participating in Arizona’s selection of its presidential electors or from using Arizona’s generous mail-in voting option.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
