A federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling that blocked two Arizona laws that sought to increase proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration. The court cited "voter suppression" as the main reason for its decision.
The ruling was issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and upholds a lower court's ruling that blocked 2022 laws signed by then-Republican-Gov. Doug Ducey. The ruling also sent one of the laws back to the district court to reconsider whether it was enacted with the intention to discriminate.
The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 over the matter, with Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissenting. The ruling, which was first reported by NBC News, stated that the laws violated the National Voter Registration Act, the Civil Rights Act and an Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution, among other provisions.
Conservative groups and Republican state legislators brought the provisions forward during the 2022 midterm elections, claiming mass voting by noncitizens had taken place. Conservative lawmakers stood by the two laws, claiming they would continue to advocate for these changes.
Republican state Sen. Warren Petersen, who supported the voting laws, said on X after the ruling: "Last we checked, the Supreme Court is above the 9th Circuit. We are appealing, yet again, to the Supreme Court and will not stop until Arizona's proof of citizenship to vote law is upheld."
The Supreme Court last year partially agreed to an emergency request made by the Republican National Committee to revive a state voter registration law that required applicants to show proof of citizenship, according to The Hill.
Last spring, a district judge ruled that state legislators did not discriminate when they adopted the 2022 voting laws after the state experienced voting security scrutiny in 2020. The judge determined that the rules violated part of the Civil Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act but that lawmakers were not intentionally discriminating against certain voters when making the legislation.
The discourse doesn't come as a surprise, given Arizona's extensive history with voter discrimination, which includes literacy tests that excluded Native Americans and Latino voters from participating in elections. Arizona also has had voter roll purges, which made it more difficult for minorities to re-register to vote.
Nevertheless, this week's decision was quickly celebrated by voting rights activists, who claimed, just like the courts, that the provisions promoted voter suppression.
"We're glad that the 9th Circuit sees these laws for what they are: anti-voter. These laws would have imposed severe, arbitrary and discriminatory burdens on Latino, Native and student voters in Arizona— undermining their freedom to vote and violating the Constitution and federal law," said in a statement Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at Campaign Legal Center, which litigates to expand voter access.
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