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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Republican officials in Virginia to revive a plan aimed at removing noncitizen voters from the rolls ahead of next week’s election.
The justices blocked a federal judge’s ruling that put the program on hold and required the state to restore 1,600 voters to the rolls.
The brief order noted that the three liberal justices on the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, all dissented.
Civil rights groups, backed by the Biden administration, challenged the plan, saying it had led to some legal voters being removed from the rolls, too. The Justice Department said that while states can review its voter rolls, it cannot do so right before an election.
States are barred from systematically removing people from voters rolls within 90 days of an election under the National Voter Registration Act.
"Everyone agrees that states can and should remove ineligible voters, including noncitizens, from their voter rolls. The only question in this case is when and how they may do so," Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in court papers filed by the Biden administration.
The state's plan flagged people for removal if they check a box on a Department of Motor Vehicles form declaring they are not a citizen or if they leave it blank.
Groups that sued, including the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said the process drew in people who might have indicated they were not citizens at that time but have subsequently become U.S. citizens. Civil rights groups and the Biden administration both provided evidence of U.S. citizens who had likely been removed from the rolls as a result.
In court papers, the groups said that "the record makes clear that citizens are being removed from the voter rolls." These are voters the 90-day period is "designed to protect," they added.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ordered the state to stop its program and restore the voter registrations of more than 1,600 people who were removed in recent months.
The Virginia plan, backed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, echoes broader, unproven Republican talking points amplified by former President Donald Trump that voting by noncitizen voters is rampant.
This narrative could be used as a basis to challenge election results if Trump loses on Election day.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican who made his name as an anti-immigration hard-liner, filed a brief backing Virginia that was joined by 25 other Republican state attorneys general.
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