Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares on Monday took the commonwealth’s noncitizen-voter case to the Supreme Court after a lower court blocked officials from purging their voter rolls of noncitizen aliens.
A federal appeals court on Sunday backed a lower court’s Friday ruling that ordered Virginia to restore some 1,600 suspected noncitizens who are ineligible to vote to the state’s voter rolls. Miyares and Governor Glenn Youngkin, both Republicans, responded with a pledge to take the case to the Supreme Court with just nine days left before the election. They followed through on Monday.
The request asks the Supreme Court to pause the appeals court’s Sunday decision. “Not only will the Commonwealth of Virginia be irreparably harmed absent a stay, so will its voters and the public at large,” Virginia wrote in its emergency application for staying the injunction.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously upheld a Biden-appointed federal district’s judge’s decision, which found that Virginia’s purging of aliens from the rolls came too close to the November election and therefore violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The appeals court agreed that the voter-purge program is a “systematic” removal, rejecting the state’s request to block the order.
By noting the state can still “prevent noncitizens from voting by canceling registrations on an individualized basis or prosecuting any noncitizen who votes,” the latest ruling says Virginia’s claims for an immediate appeal are weak. Virginia officials argued that removing noncitizens isn’t covered under federal law.
In the wake of the loss, Miyares vowed to take the appeal to the Supreme Court “immediately.” Youngkin supported the attorney general’s decision.
“It’s commonsense: noncitizens shouldn’t be on our voter rolls,” Youngkin posted on X. “Thank you [Miyares] for filing immediately with the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency appeal of the order for Virginia to put over 1,500 people who self-identified as non-citizens back on the voter rolls.”
Judge Patricia Giles sided with the Department of Justice who sued the Virginia Department of Elections earlier this month for violating the National Voter Registration Act, which includes a so-called “quiet period” provision that prevents states from removing voters less than 90 days before an election. The provision is meant to prevent last-minute mistakes.
The lawsuit was filed on October 11 in response to Youngkin’s August executive order that required daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters.
Former president Donald Trump, who has been concerned about noncitizens voting in elections, criticized Friday’s ruling.
“This is a totally unacceptable travesty, and Governor Youngkin is absolutely right to appeal this ILLEGAL ORDER, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hopefully fix it,” Trump posted on X. “Only U.S. Citizens should be allowed to vote.”
There are more than a quarter million illegal immigrants living in the commonwealth, according to the Migration Policy Institute. In 2020, nearly 4.5 million people voted in Virginia.