(The Center Square) — Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen has vowed to head back to the U.S. Supreme Court after a 9th Circuit panel ruled against an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration.
“It’s a new year, but we have the same, old 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, playing familiar games of judicial activism,” Petersen, a Republican, said Monday about the San Francisco-based court’s ruling last week against House Bill 2493, passed in 2022.
Petersen said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is trying to overturn last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Arizona in Mi Familia Vota v. Warren Petersen. The 5-4 ruling in August came three weeks after Petersen filed an emergency stay application with the court. Justices in the majority agreed with Petersen that Arizona can reject voter registration forms that don’t include proof of citizenship.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling was the last legal order in the case until last week’s 9th Circuit decision contradicting the nation’s highest court, according to Petersen.
“This radicalism undermines confidence in our judicial system, and it has negative consequences for the fabric of our Republic,” Petersen said in a statement. “Legislative Republicans are already working to return to the Supreme Court in defense of Arizona election integrity, and we intend to win.”
Federal law doesn’t require proof of citizenship to vote.
Scott Mussi, president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, blasted the 9th Circuit’s ruling against requiring proof of citizenship to vote. In a news release, Mussi called the decision “outrageous and unprecedented.”
“After months of legal wrangling over this law, and clear guidance from the nation’s high court, the 9th Circuit still wrongly believes that it is the final arbiter of the U.S. Constitution and our laws,” Mussi said. “This ruling will continue to sow doubt into our system of government and will cost much more in taxpayer dollars thanks to the emergency appeal that will be again filed at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
But Joseph Garcia, vice president for Chicanos Por La Causa, called the 9th Circuit decision “a victory for voters.”
“We must make voting more accessible, not arbitrarily more difficult,” Garcia said in various media reports. “It’s simple: Everyone who is eligible to register to vote should be allowed to register and vote.”
Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at Campaign Legal Center, said Arizona’s rules such as the proof of citizenship for registration “impose severe, arbitrary and discriminatory burdens on Latino, Native and student voters in Arizona.”
