Liberal Judges Block Arizona's Proof of Citizenship Requirement to Vote, Arizona State Senate to Send Election Integrity Case to U.S. Supreme Court

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                       

Friday, August 2, 2024

Liberal Judges Block Arizona's Proof of Citizenship Requirement to Vote,

Arizona State Senate to Send Election Integrity Case to U.S. Supreme Court

PHOENIX, ARIZONA— A major legal battle to protect the integrity of our elections within Arizona is ensuing after two liberal judges at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals engaged in judicial warfare Thursday and overturned the voices of four other judges who ruled in favor of an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship to cast a ballot.

On August 1, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel (by a vote of 2 to 1), through a “highly irregular and strongly disfavored” procedural maneuver, vacated an emergency stay decision issued unanimously (by a vote of 3 to 0) by another Ninth Circuit panel on July 18 in Mi Familia v. Adrian Fontes. This decision will now effectively allow any individual in Arizona to use a state form to register to vote, without providing proof of citizenship, in order to cast a ballot in federal races like U.S. President and Congress. Shockingly, federal law does not currently require citizenship documentation to vote in federal elections.

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. Without Congress taking action to implement federal laws safeguarding against non-U.S. citizens from casting a ballot, the sanctity of our democratic process for legal U.S. citizens remains in grave danger.

As a result of the egregious August 1 ruling by two Ninth Circuit judges, Senate President Warren Petersen is taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and will file an emergency stay application in the upcoming week.

"This is just another example of why the radical Ninth Circuit is the most overturned circuit in the nation," said Senate President Warren Petersen. "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."

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For more information, contact:

Kim Quintero

Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

kquintero@azleg.gov