The U.S. Supreme Court has granted Virginia’s emergency request to keep “noncitizens” off voter rolls, Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Wednesday morning via a social media post.
The Wednesday morning announcement comes after a coalition of 24 state attorneys general joined the commonwealth in urging the high court to allow Virginia to remove “self-identified noncitizens” from voter rolls.
Miyares announced Sunday evening that the commonwealth would file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to block a ruling 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.
The 6-3 ruling overturns the unanimous decision from a panel of judges in the Fourth Circuit of Appeals that rejected Virginia’s request on Sunday 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 argued 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 argue that the District Court’s ruling is “based on flawed interpretation” of the National Voter Registration Act’s 90-day “quiet period.” They claim 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, claiming 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 claimed the move was an attempt by the Biden Administration to “weaponize” the Justice Department.
“Now their truly Weaponized Department of ‘Injustice,’ and a Judge (appointed by Joe), have ORDERED the Great Commonwealth of Virginia to PUT NON-CITIZEN VOTERS BACK ON THE ROLLS. This is a totally unacceptable travesty,” Trump posted on X.
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department alleged 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.
