Click here for the story:
Arizona may not require documentary proof of citizenship from
prospective voters, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-to-2 decision on
Monday.
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in Arizona v. Inter
Tribal Council of Arizona, No. 12-71, said a federal law requiring
states to “accept and use” a federal form displaced an Arizona law.
The federal law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, allows
voters to register using a federal form that asks, “Are you a citizen of
the United States?” Prospective voters must check a box for yes or no,
and they must sign the form, swearing under the penalty of perjury that
they are citizens.
The state law, by contrast, required prospective voters to prove that
they were citizens by providing copies of or information concerning
various documents, including birth certificates, passports,
naturalization papers or Arizona driver’s licenses, which are available
only to people who are in the state lawfully.
A divided 10-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit had ruled that the two sets of requirements “do not
operate harmoniously” and “are seriously out of tune with each other in
several ways.”
Full detail from ScotusBlog here.
