A coalition of 24 state attorneys general has joined Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the commonwealth’s removal of “self-identified noncitizens” from voter rolls.
Miyares announced late Sunday that the commonwealth would file an emergency appeal with the court in a last-ditch effort to block a ruling in an order from the U.S. District Court to return over 1,500 noncitizens to the voter rolls that have been removed since Aug. 7.
A unanimous panel of judges from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Virginia’s request in a rare Sunday ruling to stop an order from a lower court to reinstate noncitizen registrations removed from voter rolls.
In the amicus brief filed to the highest court, the attorneys general argue that the ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia “undermines the constitutional authority of states to determine voter qualifications” to maintain election integrity “by allowing only eligible citizens to vote.”
The top prosecutors say the District Court’s ruling is “based on flawed interpretation” of the National Voter Registration Act’s 90-day “quiet period.” They say the quiet period “does not apply to the removal of noncitizens from voter rolls.”
“Noncitizens are not eligible voters,” the brief reads. “They were not eligible voters before Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, they were not eligible when Congress passed the NVRA, and they are not eligible today.”
Miyares has defended the commonwealth’s removal of noncitizens from the voter rolls, saying the ruling was “politically motivated.”
“It should never be illegal to remove an illegal voter,” said Miyares. “The Department of Justice pulled this shameful, politically motivated stunt 25 days before Election Day, challenging a Virginia process signed into law 18 years ago by a Democrat governor and approved by the Department of Justice in 2006.”
The Friday ruling drew criticism from Republicans, including former president Donald Trump, who said the move was an attempt by the Biden administration to “weaponize” the Justice Department.
In the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, it says the commonwealth unlawfully removed individuals deemed “noncitizens” from voter rolls within 90 days before an election, citing a “quiet period” in the National Voter Registration Act that mandates “no such voter cancelation or list maintenance programs may be conducted” within that time period.
Virginia is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
