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FIRST ON FOX: Twenty-six Republican attorneys general joined Virginia on Monday in urging the Supreme Court to halt a lower court decision that restored the voting rights of 1,600 residents.
The amicus brief backs Virginia’s contention that the ruling is overly broad and lacks standing under a provision of the National Voter Registration Act (NRVA), which orders states to halt all “systematic” voter roll maintenance 90 days before an election. It now has the support of every Republican-led U.S. state, giving it outsize attention in the final stretch before the election.
In the amicus brief, attorneys general urged the court to grant Virginia’s emergency motion and “restore the status quo,” noting that doing so “would comply with the law and enable Virginia to ensure that noncitizens do not vote in the upcoming election.”
The states also sided with Virginia in objecting to the Justice Department’s reading of NVRA protections, which they said was overly broad.
Moreover, they said, the law in place in Virginia was not designed to “systematically” remove residents from the voter rolls, as Justice Department officials cited in their lawsuit earlier this month.
The Justice Department had argued the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violated the “quiet period” provision under NVRA. That contention was backed by a federal judge in Alexandria, which ordered the affected voters back on the rolls, and upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
SWING-STATE’S SUPREME COURT ISSUES PIVOTAL RULING ON MAIL-IN BALLOTS SENT WITHOUT POSTMARK
Election officials have several voting booths available for Early Voting at the Broomfield City and Coutny Building. (Photo by David Jennings/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images) (getty)
In the amicus brief, lawyers describe the ruling as a “sweeping interpretation of the NVRA” that “converts a procedural statute into a substantive federal regulation of voter qualifications in…
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