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Attorney General Murrill joins coalition asking Supreme Court to expedite Virginia voter registration case
Louisiana Attorney
General Liz Murrill joined attorneys general from 26 states in filing an amicus
brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Virginia to remove non-citizens
from its voter roll.
“Louisiana stands with
Virginia! It’s appalling that the federal government would sue Virginia when
these people never had the right to vote in our country in the first place. We
must protect the integrity of our sacred elections,” said Attorney General Liz
Murrill.
The brief argues that a
preliminary injunction that halted the state of Virginia from removing
self-identified non-citizens from its rolls undermines a states’ authority to
determine voter qualifications. Virginia’s law provides mechanisms to protect
election integrity, while ensuring only U.S. citizens remain on voter rolls.
“The upcoming election is
hotly contested and has caused division around the country. Perhaps the
division would be lower if the federal government were not interfering with the
election via last-minute attacks on state efforts to police voter
qualifications,” the amicus brief reads.
The Eastern District of
Virginia Court’s recent decision to temporarily stop Virginia from removing
non-citizens from its rolls will result in Congress forcing a state to allow
non-citizens to vote in an election over the objection of that state.
It converts Virginia’s
statute into a federal mandate that forces states to allow non-citizens to vote
in an upcoming election in violation of state law and federal law itself when a
non-citizen is discovered on the rolls within 90 days of an election, according
to the brief.
“Non-citizens are not
eligible voters. They were not eligible voters before Congress passed the
National Voter Registration Act, they were not eligible when Congress passed
the NVRA, and they are not eligible today,” the amicus reads.
Kansas is the state
leading the amicus brief.
In addition to Louisiana
and Kansas, attorneys general from 25 other states joined the brief. They
include attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Files
- download KansasAmicusBrief24A407.pdf