Washington, DC — An Arizona law requiring would-be voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship seemed to divide Supreme Court justices Monday in a case important to many states that want to stiffen their own voting standards.
Conservative justices sounded sympathetic to Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship requirement, while more liberal justices suggested the measure might conflict with a 1993 law passed by Congress called the National Voter Registration Act. The eventual ruling will define when federal law pre-empts state efforts, a legal determination that accompanies political controversies ranging from illegal immigration to allegations of voter suppression.
“Many people don’t have the documents that Arizona requires,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted pointedly at the start of the hour-long oral argument Monday.
Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan, a fellow Obama administration appointee, pushed back most vigorously against the Arizona law. From the other side, though, Republican appointees, including Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito, pressed questions seemingly supportive of Arizona’s actions.
“The state has a very strong and vital interest in the integrity of its election . . . perhaps especially when those are elections of federal officials,” said Justice Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing vote on close cases, adding that a lower appellate court “did not give sufficient weight to that interest” when it struck down Arizona’s law.
The case, called Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, is the latest Supreme Court dispute arising from the state’s politically charged concerns over illegal immigration. Last year, the court in a 5-3 decision struck down portions of an Arizona immigrant-control law on the grounds it was pre-empted by the federal government’s responsibilities.
Beyond the immigration debate, the Arizona case also arises amid increasingly aggressive nationwide efforts to impose photo identification or other requirements on voters. These broader stakes were underscored by numerous friend-of-the-court briefs
Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach, who has made his mark nationally as a border-security hardliner, filed a brief supporting the Arizona law. Kansas has imposed its own proof-of-citizenship requirements, effective this year. Separately, Kansas joined Texas, Georgia and three other states in filing a similar brief supporting Arizona, arguing that “states’ control over elections will be diminished in law and in practice” if the court strikes down Arizona’s law.
Groups like the League of Women Voters and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund have joined in backing the Obama administration and other opponents of the Arizona law.
“Thirty-one thousand five hundred and fifty people were rejected from voting” by the Arizona law, attorney Patricia A. Millett, arguing for the law’s opponents, said Monday, adding that many of those then “had to do the double gauntlet that Congress was trying to eliminate” in order to finally register.
The legal dispute centers on the relationship between the National Voter Registration Act, passed by Congress in 1993, and Arizona’s Proposition 200, passed with 55 percent of the state vote in November 2004.
The federal law, sometimes called the “Motor Voter Act,” was passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress whose members said they wanted to boost voter participation by easing registration procedures.
“Congress . . . confronted a situation in which 40 percent of eligible voters were not registered, because state procedures and burdens were standing as an obstacle, a barrier in the direct line of accountability between individual citizens and their federal government,” Millett said.
The federal law requires would-be voters to sign a statement that they meet the voter eligibility requirements, which include U.S. citizenship. No other proof of citizenship is required, under the federal law.
“So it’s under oath, big deal,” Justice Antonin Scalia said dismissively, adding later: “This is proof? It’s not proof at all.”
Arizona’s Proposition 200 added the requirement that voter registration applicants include documentary proof of citizenship, such as a driver’s license, passport or birth certificate. State officials argue the evidence is necessary to support the simple signature required by the federal law.
“It’s extremely inadequate,” Arizona Attorney General Thomas Horne said of the federal signature requirement. “It’s essentially an honor system. It does not do the job.”
Opponents of the Arizona law counter that allowing states to layer on additional documentary requirements would thwart the purpose of the federal law.
“The whole point of this is to come forward with a federal form that streamlines the process of registration,” Deputy Solicitor General Sri Srinivasan said.
Justice Clarence Thomas, as is his custom, was the only one of the nine Supreme Court justices to remain silent for the entire oral argument.
A decision is expected by the end of June.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.