WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether Arizona can require proof of citizenship for voter registration, in a case being closely watched by voting rights advocates.
In February 2025, a federal appeals court blocked enforcement of two Arizona laws enacted in 2022 that Democrats and others say are intended to deter Latino voters.
Republicans want to overturn that ruling, arguing that the Legislature is simply trying to ensure that noncitizens cannot cast ballots.
“It’s not racist to believe that only U.S. citizens should vote in America,” said Arizona Republican Party Chair Sergio Arellano in a statement after the high court announced Monday that it will hear oral arguments in the fall. “The 9th Circuit lives in its own fantasyland, but common sense is still alive and well at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Voting rights advocates say the case, Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, could have enormous implications if the justices allow Arizona and other states to require proof of citizenship. Under federal law, people registering to vote check a box affirming they are citizens but don’t have to show any documents.
“Under the false pretense of combating noncitizen voting, despite overwhelming evidence that it is exceedingly rare, the Trump administration and its MAGA allies are advancing one of the most aggressive voter suppression efforts in modern history,” Hector Sanchez Barba, president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota, said in a statement Monday evening.
Likening the proof of citizenship requirement to poll taxes and literacy tests, he added, “We have already seen eligible citizens wrongly removed from voter rolls and forced through burdensome bureaucratic hurdles to restore their voting rights. That is not election integrity – it’s disenfranchisement.”
Critics say that the laws could prevent millions of eligible voters from casting ballots.
A study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that more than 9% of U.S. citizens of voting age do not have proof of citizenship readily available. That percentage is higher for citizens of color.
“The RNC is proud to lead this effort,” said Chairman Joe Gruter in a statement Monday. “We will keep fighting nationwide to defend election integrity and ensure only eligible citizens can cast a ballot.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles appeals from Arizona and eight other Western states, ruled in Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes early last year that two election laws adopted by the Arizona Legislature violate the National Voter Registration Act.
That federal law requires states to “accept and use” a federal voter registration form.
One of the new Arizona laws requires use of a state form that adds a requirement to provide proof of citizenship. Voters who insist on using the federal form would be allowed to cast ballots for president and Congress, but not in state and local elections.
More than 19,000 Arizonans were registered as federal-only voters as of July 2023, according to court records.
The second Arizona law on hold by order of the 9th Circuit would allow county election officials to investigate a voter they have “reason to believe” is not a citizen. Critics call the provision discriminatory and say it has subjected naturalized citizens to an unequal verification process.
Arizona’s governor at the time, Republican Doug Ducey, signed the measures into law.
In August 2024, the Supreme Court issued an order allowing the state’s proof of citizenship requirement to remain in effect while the case works through the courts.
“Arizona does need clarity from the Court on how to administer the citizenship requirements for voting,” Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, the state’s top election official, said in a statement Monday. “The current process is confusing to voters and results in some voter applications being totally rejected just because of which form they happened to use.”
In 2004, Arizona voters approved Proposition 200, which required proof of citizenship to register to vote and for voters to show identification at polling stations.
The two 2022 laws the Supreme Court will review were approved amid a wave of similar measures by GOP-controlled states. Many of those were inspired by President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that widespread voting by noncitizens cost him the 2020 election.
In fact, the number of noncitizens on voting lists is very low and the number who actually cast a ballot in a federal election – which is illegal – is even lower.
A review by the Department of Homeland Security found that out of 49.5 million voter registrations from roughly half the states that were compared against federal databases, about 10,000, or 0.2%, could have been noncitizens.
But state elections officials called that figure inflated, noting that many citizens were flagged incorrectly. Nor did that review turn up evidence of illegal voting.
In late May, Utah officials released the results of a yearlong review that cross-referenced voter rolls with a federal citizenship verification database. The review identified 27 noncitizens out of 2 million registered voters.
Trump has been demanding a proof of citizenship law at the federal level: the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which also includes a photo ID requirement at the polls.
The bill is stalled in the Senate.
After the Supreme Court ruled Monday that states are allowed to count mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day – rejecting a GOP challenge 5-4 – Trump called the SAVE Act even more vital to avert cheating.
The SAVE Act would eliminate federal-only voters in Arizona.
Arizona only counts ballots that arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day, so Monday’s ruling does not affect Arizona’s elections.
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