Appeals court blocks Arizona’s proof of citizenship law, cites voter suppression

• A federal appeals court ruled that Arizona’s 2022 law requiring proof of citizenship to vote by mail or in presidential elections discourages voter participation. The decision upholds a lower court’s ruling that the law conflicts with civil rights protections.
• Mi Familia Vota, a Latino voting rights organization, called the ruling a win, stating it protects Latino and naturalized citizen voters from discriminatory laws.
• Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen criticized the ruling and announced plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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A lengthy legal battle over Arizona’s voter registration laws closed its current chapter as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling, which blocks the state’s 2022 law requiring proof of citizenship to vote. The 9th Circuit ruled 2-1 in a decision released Tuesday, Feb. 25, that the law could discourage voters from casting their ballots.

Court upholds ruling against Arizona’s law

The appellate court upheld a lower court’s ruling from 2024, which found parts of Arizona’s voter registration laws conflicted with the Civil Rights Act and the National Voting Rights Act. The decision blocks provisions in the law, including one that would have required voters to provide proof of citizenship to vote by mail or in presidential elections.

One of the plaintiffs in the case, the Latino voting rights group Mi Familia Vota, celebrated the ruling as a victory. Héctor Sánchez Barba, the organization’s president and CEO, told NBC News, “This was a blatant attempt to suppress the vote, particularly for Latino and naturalized citizen voters.”

Split opinion by judges

The appellate court also reversed an earlier ruling that dismissed claims the laws were discriminatory. The court asked the district judge to reconsider the case. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Patrick Bumatay––appointed during President Donald Trump’s first term––argued some parts of the legislation violate federal law, but the majority of the provisions are constitutional and should not be invalidated.

State leaders plan an appeal

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen expressed frustration with the ruling, saying on social media that he would call on the U.S. Supreme Court to make a final decision. The Supreme Court initially heard the case in 2013.

Warren criticized Tuesday’s ruling, saying, “In a world only possible in the liberal 9th Circuit, two judges disregarded the Supreme Court’s ruling and have again blocked Arizona’s law.”

Arizona’s voter registration

Arizona’s voter registration system is split into two options. Voters can either use a state form, which requires them to prove their U.S. citizenship, or a federal-only form, which only requires a declaration of eligibility to vote.

The legal battle stems from a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said Arizona cannot prevent voters without proof of citizenship from voting in federal elections.

As a result, some voters in Arizona are registered only for federal elections. Currently, about 32,000 people in the state are considered “federal-only” voters, many of whom live near Native American reservations of college campus, according to Votebeat.