SCOTUS allows Virginia to remove non-citizens from voting rolls

CV NEWS FEED // In a 6-3 decision on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Virginia can temporarily remove 1,600 individuals suspected of being noncitizens from its voter rolls.

The three dissenting justices were liberal Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced the ruling on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday morning, noting that the Court “granted Virginia’s emergency stay to keep noncitizens off our voter rolls.”

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told FOX he was “pleased” by the decision, calling it a “victory for commonsense and election fairness.”

Youngkin also noted that he was grateful for Miyares’ work “on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens.”

Republican Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears praised the ruling.

“As an immigrant and a naturalized citizen of our great country, I am personally grateful for this decision that upholds the rule of law,” she wrote in a statement. “Voting is one of the most fundamental rights we have as Americans and this decision is essential in protecting the rights of naturalized citizens and all Americans.”

The lieutenant governor continued:

Politically motivated lawsuits have become far too common under the Biden-Harris Administration. Today’s decision rightfully maintains that only American citizens are allowed to be on voter rolls and to cast ballots in the Commonwealth.

Earle-Sears, an immigrant from Jamaica, is a candidate in next year’s Virginia gubernatorial election. She is currently the only declared Republican in the race. Youngkin is term-limited as Virginia does not allow incumbent governors to run for re-election to consecutive terms.

FOX reported that the Supreme Court’s decision represents a victory for the governor and “comes just days after the state of Virginia filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to halt a lower court decision ordering it to restore the names of some 1,600 individuals to its voter rolls.”

The ruling temporarily halts “a federal judge’s decision that ordered” Virginia “to reinstate hundreds of potential noncitizens to the state’s voter rolls,” FOX added.

Law360 Supreme Court reporter Katie Buehler specified on X that the decision lifted “an order that halted the program for violating a federal ‘quiet period’ law.”

Buehler elaborated that the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) “told the justices the program has already stripped eligible voters, many who are naturalized citizens, from their constitutional rights due to reliance on out-of-date information.”

Again from FOX:

At the heart of the case is whether Virginia’s voter removal process violates a so-called quiet period under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), or a federal law requiring states to halt all “systematic” voter roll maintenance for a 90-day period before a federal election.

That argument pitted the Department of Justice — which sued the state over its removal program earlier this month — against Youngkin, who insisted the state’s process is “individualized” and conducted in accordance with state and federal law.

>> JUNE: VIRGINIA NO LONGER SOLID BLUE STATE DUE TO MINORITY VOTERS <<

At the presidential level, Virginia is a Democratic-leaning state that last voted for a Republican nominee in 2004. 

While Virginia is not considered one of the seven battleground states in the 2024 election, many analysts agree that former President Donald Trump has an outside shot of scoring an upset victory there. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, leading prediction website Polymarket shows Trump has an 18% chance of winning Virginia’s 13 electoral votes on November 5 – his second-highest chance in a non-battleground state.

Readers can find CatholicVote’s coverage of recent court cases concerning election integrity below:

PA Republicans ask Supreme Court to block state high court’s decision to count ballots deemed invalid

Nevada Supreme Court rules late, non-postmarked ballots can count

Federal court rules that mail-in ballots received after Election Day should not count