AG Reyes Supports Brief to Preserve Election Integrity

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined 23 attorneys general in an amicus brief filed with the United States Supreme Court in RNC v. Mi Familia Vota. The coalition's brief urged the Court to grant an emergency stay to ensure that an Arizona law requiring voters provide proof of citizenship to register for state and presidential elections remains in effect. Timing is critical due to the upcoming November General Election.

In 2022, the Arizona Legislature passed two commonsense bills (HB 2492 and HB 2243) that increased voter protections and strengthened election integrity. Interest groups opposed to those protections challenged Arizona's efforts to prevent voting by non-citizens. After proceedings in the district court, a panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed the law's requirement for proof of citizenship for State Registration Forms to go into effect, but another Ninth Circuit panel reversed. As Judge Bumatay noted in dissent, the panel majority's reversal of another panel faced with identical arguments days earlier "abandon[ed] regularity" and resulted in two circuit judges overruling four others. The emergency application to the Supreme Court followed.

In their brief, the attorneys general argue that federal law "does not prohibit states from ensuring only citizens register to vote" and "the irreparable harms to Arizona's sovereign interests justify granting applicants' request."

"This right to police elections involves a core aspect of State sovereignty. Thus, the States, as sovereigns, 'may reserve participation in [their] democratic institutions for citizens of this country.' As sovereigns, each State has an 'obligation to preserve the basic conception of a political community' by delineating and enforcing the qualifications of electors. The Constitution respects that sovereignty. It, in fact, guarantees it as to State elections, congressional elections, and presidential elections. It is … not something Congress can take away."

Joining Utah, Kansas, and West Virginia were the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia.

Read the brief here.