By Daniel Stefanski |

A federal appeals court’s decision to overturn an order from its own panel has Arizona conservatives outraged.

This week, a panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a recent opinion from another panel within the court that had allowed Arizona’s law on state voter registration proof of citizenship requirements to go into effect. This latest decision from the Ninth Circuit now vacates that order, allowing individuals to essentially register to vote with state or federal forms in Arizona without providing proof of citizenship.

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, who was one of the intervenors in the case defending the law against its challengers, issued a statement in condemnation of the Ninth Circuit’s order. Petersen said, “This is just another example of why the radical Ninth Circuit is one of the most overturned circuits 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.”

According to the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus, “This lawsuit stems from radical Left activists, some of which are from outside of Arizona, opposing two laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature back in 2022 restricting voters who don’t provide documentation confirming they are in fact legal citizens of the United States.”

Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, also weighed in on the decision from the Ninth Circuit panel, writing, “This opinion from two radical judges on the Ninth Circuit is a travesty of law and to the legal process, overturning a ruling issued just last week by the same court. We are hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly intervene and reverse this poorly reasoned decision on appeal.”

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club was extremely instrumental in the origination and passage of HB 2492, which is one of the state laws at the heart of the legal matter.

In this Ninth Circuit’s order, there was one judge who dissented from his other colleagues – Judge Patrick J. Bumatay. He wrote, “Motions for reconsideration of a motions panel’s order are not meant to be a second bite at the apple. On the contrary, they are highly irregular and strongly disfavored, primarily appropriate if there have been ‘[c]hanges in legal or factual circumstances’ since the motions panel addressed the issue.”

Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.