(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed an amici curiae (friends of the court) brief with the Allied Educational Foundation (AEF) urging the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling restricting Arizona’s authority to require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration and remove noncitizens from the registration list.
The brief was filed in Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, et al. (No. 25-1017), a case concerning Arizona’s H.B. 2492, which required documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in state elections and to verify certain eligibility requirements to vote in federal elections. The Ninth Circuit held that the law violated the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”). The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in June, and oral argument is scheduled for December 8, 2026.
The Judicial Watch and AEF brief argues that under the Voter Qualifications Clause of the Constitution, states have sole authority to establish and verify voter qualifications, including citizenship, and that Congress cannot use its power under the Elections Clause and the NVRA to override that authority in state elections. Voter registration is more than an administrative process – it allows election officials to determine whether applicants meet eligibility requirements before Election Day:
Congress cannot usurp the state’s exclusive sovereign prerogative to adjudicate whether an applicant has presented satisfactory proof of those qualifications, such as residency or citizenship …
The brief explains that voter registration helps ensure that only qualified voters can vote and allows officials to verify eligibility before Election Day. It argues that when a state requires advance registration, it should be able to decide what proof is needed to establish that an applicant meets the state’s constitutional voting qualifications:
Before Election Day, state election officials verify qualifications so that on Election Day voting can proceed efficiently with limited challenges.
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Like all states, Arizona requires individuals to be citizens of the United States to be qualified to vote in its state and federal elections. Pursuant to its authority under the Constitution’s Voter Qualifications Clause, it mandates registrants to provide proof of their citizenship to vote in state elections.
The brief warns that allowing federal procedural regulation to prevent states from enforcing their own voter qualifications would upset the constitutional division of authority between the federal government and the states.
“The Left is desperately opposed, contrary to law, to make it as easy as possible for foreign nationals to illegally vote in our elections. The Supreme Court should stand against this,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Judicial Watch is a national leader in election integrity and voting rights litigation, with a record of successful lawsuits enforcing constitutional redistricting standards and cleaning voter rolls nationwide.
Judicial Watch’s lawsuits and legal actions have caused the removal of six million ineligible names from voter lists nationwide, including from Oregon, Colorado, Kentucky and New York City. Judicial Watch legal pressure also resulted in voter roll clean-ups in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio.
In August 2026, Judicial Watch filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the Supreme Court supporting the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s petition for review of a Ninth Circuit decision that allows Hawaii to shield its statewide voter registration list from public disclosure. Judicial Watch is urging the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to the Ninth Circuit ruling and overturn the decision, citing federal law designed to foster transparency that allows the use of voting rolls to uncover fraud and errors.
In July 2026, Judicial Watch announced that records from the Virginia Department of Elections showed the commonwealth cancelled 6,531 “declared noncitizen” voter registrations between June 2024 and June 2026.
Also in July 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its intention to file a motion to intervene in Judicial Watch’s federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a California political candidate and a state political party against the State of California due to its failure to maintain accurate voter rolls as required by the NVRA.
A federal court in Illinois ruled that Judicial Watch’s lawsuit to force the cleaning of voter rolls may proceed in that state.
In January 2026, in a historic case filed by Judicial Watch, the Supreme Court decided 7-2 in favor of Congressman Mike Bost and two presidential electors who were before the court to vindicate their standing to challenge an Illinois law allowing the counting of ballots received up to 14 days after Election Day.
In July 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit adopted the argument put forth by Judicial Watch and Allied Educational Foundation (AEF) in their amici curiae brief when it upheld Alabama’s 2011 Photo Voter Identification Law.
The Allied Educational Foundation is a charitable and educational foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life through education. In furtherance of that goal, the Foundation has engaged in a number of projects, which include, but are not limited to, educational and health conferences domestically and abroad. AEF has partnered frequently with Judicial Watch to fight government and judicial corruption and to promote a return to ethics and morality in the nation’s public life.
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