Georgia – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has joined a 25-state coalition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step into a legal fight over election rules in Arizona, arguing that states must be allowed to enforce citizenship requirements meant to keep noncitizens from voting in American elections.
At the center of the dispute is an amicus brief filed in support of three related cases now being pushed toward the nation’s highest court.
The filing backs Arizona’s 2022 election laws, which were designed to tighten registration standards by requiring proof of citizenship for full voter registration. Under those rules, applicants who do not provide that proof can be limited to federal-only ballots, and election officials are directed to reject state registration forms that are missing the required documentation.
Carr said the issue is straightforward and rooted in existing law.
“Only American citizens are eligible to vote in American elections. Period. That’s not partisan or political – it’s the law, and we have to ensure that law is enforced every step of the way,” said Carr.
“We’ll always fight to protect the integrity of our elections, and we’ll continue to push for commonsense measures that do just that.”
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The legal battle reached this stage after a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with plaintiffs challenging key parts of Arizona’s law, preventing the state from enforcing some of its provisions. Even so, the ruling did not go unquestioned inside the court.
According to the brief, eleven Ninth Circuit judges believed the matter should have been reconsidered by the full court, a sign of how sharply contested the case has become.
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That appellate decision has now given rise to three separate petitions asking the Supreme Court to hear the matter: Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, No. 25-1017; Petersen v. Mi Familia Vota, No. 25-1019; and Arizona v. Promise Arizona, No. 25-1019.
Carr’s filing was led by Kansas and joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
The coalition’s argument is that states need clear authority to maintain safeguards around voter registration and ballot access. With the Supreme Court now being asked to review the Ninth Circuit’s handling of the case, the outcome could shape how far states may go in enforcing election integrity laws in the years ahead.
A copy of the brief is available here.
