(DC Pundit) – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down two Arizona laws designed to restrict voting for those who can’t prove their U.S. citizenship, deeming them “unlawful measures of voter suppression.” It appears the court is taking a rather dim view of efforts to ensure that only actual citizens are casting ballots in American elections.
The appeals court upheld a 2023 decision from the U.S. District Court of Arizona, which previously found several provisions of two 2022 Republican-backed laws unconstitutional. These included a provision that prohibits voters who don’t prove citizenship from voting for president, and another that prohibits them from voting by mail. Apparently, demanding proof of citizenship to vote in elections is just too much to ask.
The judges also determined that the state must allow voters who don’t prove citizenship to vote in federal elections even if they use a state voter registration form. The U.S. Supreme Court in August had granted an emergency stay requiring the opposite, pending a final ruling from the 9th Circuit.
That meant that election officials were outright rejecting state registration forms without proof of citizenship in the crucial period leading up to the November presidential election.
“Our democracy works best when every American can participate in it without barriers,” said Danielle Lang, the Campaign Legal Center’s senior director of voting rights, who represented some of the plaintiffs and argued before the 9th Circuit panel. “We’re glad that the 9th Circuit sees these laws for what they are: anti-voter.”
The ruling is a setback for Republican lawmakers, both in Arizona and nationally, as they try to enact stronger laws to prevent noncitizen voting. Senate President Warren Petersen criticized the 9th Circuit decision as disregarding the August ruling from the Supreme Court, which he said was only possible “in the liberal 9th Circuit.”
“Last we checked, the Supreme Court is above the 9th Circuit,” Petersen said in a statement posted on X.
🚨BREAKING: Just 6 months after the 9th circuit was reversed by the Supreme Court for blocking Arizona's proof of citizenship to vote requirement, the 9th Circuit strikes again.
In a world only possible in the liberal 9th circuit, two judges disregarded the Supreme Court's… pic.twitter.com/CNI9E3I48e
— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) February 25, 2025
Petersen said the Republican leadership would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The case was heard by a three-judge panel — Kim McLane Wardlaw and Ronald M. Gould, both appointed by President Bill Clinton, and Patrick J. Bumatay, appointed by President Donald Trump. Bumatay dissented, and favored upholding substantial portions of the law, including the ones requiring proof of citizenship to vote in presidential elections and by mail.
Evidently, proving you are a citizen and living in the area where you are casting your ballot is voter suppression.
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