The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Virginia can continue to remove noncitizen voters from its state voter rolls, reversing a lower court decision stemming from a lawsuit brought by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ). Initial filed with Chief Justice John Roberts, the DOJ supplied a response to Virginia late yesterday with the full court issuing its ruling less than a day later on Wednesday morning.
“The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted. The October 25, 2024 order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia… is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal…,” the Supreme Court’s order reads. Only Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
BREAKING: Supreme Court rules 6-3 to allow Virginia to remove noncitizens from its voting rolls, lifting an order that halted the program. pic.twitter.com/dLO0lnSyy6
— America (@america) October 30, 2024
In 2006, then-Governor Tim Kaine (D-VA) signed legislation allowing the state to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls. Despite being on the books for nearly two decades, the DOJ has not challenged that law until now. On Sunday night, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) filed an emergency stay request with the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts accepted the filing and gave the DOJ until yesterday at 3PM to respond.
Pursuant to the ruling, Virginia election officials will be allowed to continue to remove self-identified noncitizen voters from the state’s rolls with just a week left before the 2024 presidential election.