By Kiera Riley | State Affairs
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take on a case that’s crucial to Arizona’s proof of citizenship laws.
In a new filing, Hashim Mooppan, acting solicitor general, and Jesus Osete, assistant attorney general, aligned with the state and Legislature, supporting state laws requiring county recorders to check citizenship, remove ineligible voters from voter rolls and decline to register those who fail to provide the proof of citizenship required to be state voters.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the program removing noncitizens from voter rolls within 90 days of a federal election violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), as did the proof of citizenship requirement for state voters.
But in its most recent filing, the DOJ claims the circuit court erred in both respects.
On the removal provision, the DOJ contends the NVRA “does not restrict a State’s power to purge individuals from the rolls who were never eligible to register in the first place.”
