A federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling that blocked Arizona’s proof of citizenship provision for voter registration.
The ruling came from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and upholds a lower court’s ruling that blocked 2022 laws signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey (R).
The court said in its ruling that the laws violated the National Voter Registration Act, the Civil Rights Act and an Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution, among other provisions.
The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 over the matter, with Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump nominee, dissenting. It was first reported by NBC News.
State Sen. Warren Petersen (R) said online after the ruling that he would be appealing “yet again” to the Supreme Court and would not stop until the proof of citizenship is upheld.
Last year, the Supreme Court partially agreed to an emergency request made by the Republican National Committee to revive a state voter registration law that required applicants to show proof of citizenship.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the appeal’s court sent another law back to district court to determine if it was signed into law with the intention to discriminate.
Last Spring, a district judge ruled that state legislators did not discriminate when they adopted the 2022 voting laws after the state experienced voting security scrutiny in 2020. The judge determined that the rules violated part of the Civil Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act but that lawmakers were not intentionally discriminating against certain voters when making the legislation.
Groups immediately challenged the law after it was signed by Ducey, arguing that thousands of people already registered could be prevented from voting.
The state has a history of voter discrimination, including literacy tests that excluded Native American and Latino voters from participating in elections. Arizona also has had voter roll purges, which made it more difficult for minorities to re-register to vote.
