Arizona GOP Leaders Ask DOJ to Change Stance on Proof of Citizenship
Arizona Republican leaders sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Wednesday asking her to review and reconsider the Department of Justice’s position in a lawsuit challenging the state’s restrictive proof of citizenship law.
This is the second time a state-level Republican politician has asked the Trump DOJ to step in to help them advance anti-voting rules. Earlier this month, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) asked Bondi to drop the DOJ’s challenge to the state’s omnibus voter suppression law.
In the letter to Bondi, Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R) and Senate President Warren Peterson (R) accused the Biden DOJ of “team[ing] up with various left-wing groups in prosecuting a wide-ranging legal assault” on the state’s 2022 voter suppression laws, House Bill 2492 and House Bill 2243.
Before the passage of H.B. 2492, Arizona voters had to provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) when registering to vote using state forms, but not with federal forms. Those who registered with state forms could vote in federal, state and local elections. However, those who registered with federal forms could only vote in federal elections, including for congressional offices and the president.
H.B. 2492 added new restrictions on federal-only voters, requiring them to provide DPOC to vote in presidential elections or to vote by mail for any office. It also empowered the Arizona attorney general to investigate voters with missing citizenship statuses. House Bill 2243 required county records to cancel a voter’s registration if they have “reason to believe” the voter is not a citizen. The Biden DOJ, along with the Democratic National Committee and various advocacy groups, sued to block the laws, claiming they violated the Constitution, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), and the Civil Rights Act. The cases were later consolidated into one.
Over the last three years, a federal district court in Arizona struck down key provisions of both laws, causing GOP legislators who intervened in the case to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Republicans also asked the Supreme Court to pause the district court’s rulings while the appeal was ongoing. In August 2024, SCOTUS partially complied, allowing Arizona to reject new state voter registration applications submitted without DPOC ahead of the 2024 election.
Oral argument in the 9th Circuit took place Sept. 10, 2024. The parties are awaiting a decision on the validity of the blocked provisions, including whether Arizona can demand DPOC for federal-only voters.
Throughout it all, the Biden DOJ has maintained that requiring DPOC for federal-only voters violates the NVRA. Now with the Trump administration in office and the 9th Circuit set to rule on the appeal, Arizona Republicans are seeing an opportunity to bring the federal government to their side.
Their hopes are not misplaced, either. In late January, the Trump DOJ voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit challenging Virginia’s voter purge program that targeted naturalized citizens mere weeks before the 2024 election. Bondi herself has a history of election denialism and is a close ally of President Donald Trump. In 2020, she spearheaded Trump’s efforts to toss out absentee ballots to overturn election results in Pennsylvania.