US Supreme Court allows Virginia to resume voter registration purge

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Virginia to resume its purge of voter registrations that the state says is aimed at preventing people who are not U.S. citizens from voting.

The justices granted an emergency appeal from Virginia’s Republican administration. The justices acted on the state’s emergency appeal after a federal judge determined that the state illegally purged more than 1,600 voter registrations in the past two months. A federal appeals court had previously allowed the judge’s order to remain in effect.

As is typical in emergency situations, the Supreme Court’s brief order did not explain the majority’s reasoning. The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented and said they would have rejected Youngkin’s request to allow the voter purge.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked the justices to intervene after two lower courts blocked his efforts to cancel the registrations of voters who might be noncitizens.

Earlier this month, civil rights groups and the U.S. Department of Justice sued Virginia over the program.

Under the National Voter Registration Act, during the 90 days before an election, states must suspend certain types of voter list maintenance programs that systematically remove voters to ensure that errors are not made too close to the election. The so-called silent period began this year on August 7, the same day Youngkin issued his executive order.

[Con información de The Associated Press]

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