Supreme Court gives Republicans election win

The members of the U.S. Supreme Court just gave Republicans a partial election win. 

The justices did so, according to Fox News, with regard to the proof of citizenship law that has been passed in Arizona.

The law had been blocked by a lower court.

Now, however, that justices are partially allowing it to be implemented.

Here's what's going on:

Following the 2020 presidential election, several states passed legislation to protect their elections' integrity. Arizona is among those states.

Arizona, of course, is a southern border state, and it has seen some of the worst illegal immigration numbers in the country, under the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. There have been legitimate concerns about the possibility of many of these illegal immigrants voting in the upcoming election.

Accordingly, Arizona legislators passed a measure that would require any resident looking to vote to provide proof of their United States citizenship. One would think that this would be a commonsensical and non-controversial way to protect the state's election. However, the law has been challenged in the courts.

Tucson.com reports:

Several rights groups filed suit, calling the requirement “a baseless assault on Arizona’s election system based on a conspiracy theory that non-citizens are voting, despite a persistent lack of credible evidence to support such claims.’’ And they cited a federal law that allows people to register without citizenship proof if they avow, under penalty of perjury, they are entitled to cast ballots.

The case has already been heard at virtually every level.

The latest

At the district court level, Judge Susan Bolton initially agreed with the challengers, blocking the measure from taking effect.

Then, an appellate court partially reversed the ruling, holding that "the state can reject those who sign up using the state form if they don’t also submit proof of citizenship, even if those people are only signing up to vote in federal elections."

The appellate court not long thereafter, however, overruled their colleagues ruling. Then, the case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Just the News reports:

Following a request from the Republican National Committee and Arizona Republicans, the Supreme Court reinstated a provision of the state law after federal courts blocked it . . . Individuals filling out voter registration forms for state elections must provide proof of U.S. citizenship, unlike those filling out the federal voter registration forms.

That's the good news. The bad news, according to the outlet, is that "A provision of the law requiring that registrants demonstrate proof of citizenship when registering with the federal forms for the presidential election remains on ice." Nonetheless, the Supreme Court's ruling is a step in the right direction for those who value election integrity.