The Supreme Court Just Carved an Outrageous Loophole Into a Major Voting Rights Law

[Nevilledog]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/10/us-presidential-election-supreme-court-virginia-voter-rolls-purge.html

The Supreme Court decided Wednesday that at least 1,600 people—including some known to be U.S. citizens with every right to vote—can be removed from Virginia’s voter rolls before Election Day. The conservative supermajority’s order, issued on the shadow docket, essentially nullified a landmark federal law that bars last-minute voter purges. All three liberal justices dissented. Ominously, the court’s intervention signals to other states that they can commence purges at the eleventh hour, suppressing the vote through legal gamesmanship that Congress sought to ban.

Wednesday’s order is a major victory for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares, both Republicans, in their quest to expand states’ authority to cancel voter registrations just before voting begins. And it’s a clear violation of federal law. A federal statute, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, outlawed any state “program” that “systematically” removes “ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters” starting 90 days before a federal election. Congress enacted the statute in recognition of the obvious fact that these purges often caught up eligible voters, as well, creating confusion and threatening civil rights. Nonetheless, Youngkin issued an executive order exactly 90 days before the Nov. 5 election mandating a daily set of voter purges.

Youngkin claimed that the program went after only noncitizens. But he was lying: His program swept in U.S. citizens in two ways. First, it targeted Virginians who checked a box on a DMV form indicating that they were noncitizens. But due to poor design of this form, a startlingly large number of citizens inadvertently check this box. Moreover, many foreign nationals who checked the box years ago have since become naturalized U.S. citizens who may, of course, vote like any other citizen. Second, Youngkin’s program compared the names of alleged noncitizens on the voter rolls with a database of noncitizens maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. It then removed voters whose names purportedly appeared in the database. But this database is, by the government’s own admission, incomplete and imperfect, and comparing its list with a state’s voter rolls can easily lead to false matches.

These flaws are not speculation: Reporters have already found U.S. citizens caught up in Youngkin’s purge, to their immense surprise. Attorneys opposing the program have also identified a number of citizens flagged for removal by the purge. If these citizens want to vote, they’ll now need to reregister at the polls (if they bring the proper documentation), cast a provisional ballot, and hope officials decide to count it.

*snip*

[JohnSJ]

1. f**k the thugs on this disgraceful SC. The best way to show your views about them is to VOTE in huge numbers for Harris

[jimfields33]

9. Congress needs to expand from 90 days to 180 days.

Youngkin actually did this the last day he was eligible to do so allowing it to be legal but nasty.

[BComplex]

20. What congress does MEANS NOTHING to this supreme court!!! Until all of us democrats finally realize this,

we're stuck behind this disbelief as to what this court is doing. Pretty much everything they've already dismantled is based on ESTABLISHED LAWS, passed by congress, and affirmed by other courts.

The 3 trump justices, plus John Roberts and the two criminals on the supreme court, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, need to all be impeached for sedition or perjury, and proven judicial misconduct. These are NOT valid justices.

[diane in sf]

2. The Court needs to be expanded or these schmucks impeached. They are all guilty of perjury, some of taking bribes,

And some of insurrection.

[dickthegrouch]

12. This very decision is, in itself, insurrection IMHO /nt

[DSandra]

25. Republicans believe in "might makes right"

That's the only way to deal with them.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

32. I agree

IMHO , If you really think that might means right, bro

You need to be curb stomped until you don’t believe in that stupid crap anymore

[MurrayDelph]

35. Let's do both

The current majority has finally retired their pretense of "Original Intent," where they would have to scout the history of the law in order to find a component they could then use to reverse-engineer the answer they wanted (most notably when Antonin Scalia once, in a two-day period, used the same principle to support both X in one case and not-X in another).

Now, they have abandoned the tedious doctrine of "Original Intent" in favor of the doctrine of "Duck you! That's why!"

[uponit7771]

36. +1, there are 13 court of appeals there should be 13 justices

[RJ_MacReady]

3. ok then MI and PA

Need to follow in kind and target heavy republican voting districts.

[TommyT139]

28. Rethugs win by assuming Dems are better.

[live love laugh]

4. I expect an avalanche of purges now.

[durablend]

14. I thought I read a western PA county purged a bunch of registrations

[Jersey Devil]

5. Disgraceful ruling yes, but maybe not as bad as it seems

First of all, if they have already voted early their votes cannot be thrown out because ballots do not have names on them and it would be impossible to tell who cast what ballot.

Secondly, if they are citizens they can show up with proof of citizenship and vote provisionally. If their proof is satisfactory their votes will be counted.

So, while the ruling of the court is outrageous, it will not cost as many votes as it may initially seem to do. Small blessings but in a close election it could prove significant.

[ScratchCat]

7. It potentially affects less than one tenth of one percent of Virginia voters

And half are probably Republican voters.

[markodochartaigh]

16. Like so many other things it

is the thin end of the wedge. Younkin did this 90 days before the election. Coincidence?

"First they came..."

[mymomwasright]

30. It is concerning that other states may follow Virginia's example

Seeing that the SC will likely support them.

[Ramsey Barner]

6. They decided this with no published rationale. It's arrogant and insulting.

[Think. Again.]

8. This appears to be part of a larger rightwing plan of some kind....

....(rightwing) youngkin ordered the purge to begin on exactly the 90th day before the election, knowing the law specifically dis-allowed this type of activity starting at that specific date, AND, the (rightwing) supreme court is allowing the purge to continue knowing the law specifically states it can not.

I can't help but to suspect both of those things were co-ordinated by the rightwing to bring about some situation that will benefit trump, such as setting up the circumstances needed to have the supreme court allow Virginia's ballots not to be counted (or something), or to have the entire National Voter Registration Act of 1993 invalidated somehow.

[Silent Type]

10. Fortunately, it looks like anyone who is purged -- but still shows up at polls -- can still vote provisionally.

". . . . . . . Youngkin bristled at the suggestion that voters have been “cut off” the voter rolls, noting that eligible Virginia voters can still vote using the same-day registration process even if they are removed from voter rolls. Such voters sign an affirmation of eligibility in person and then cast a provisional ballot, which is counted after election officials confirm their eligibility."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/30/virginia-noncitizen-voter-purge-supreme-court/

Not perfect and any "purge" should have happened months ago, but it's kind of hard to rule, "They can still vote, even if ineligible."

[Passages]

11. The 6 are never going to stop destroying democracy.

Chip away, chip away, chip away. Sick bastards.

[DFW]

13. Charge Youngkin and the six rightwing SC "justices" with Civil Rights violations

Deliberate violation of the Constitution and every single one of them knows it.

[BattleRow]

22. How about RICO?

[DFW]

26. Probably harder to prove the collusion even if we know it was there n/t

[BattleRow]

27. Throw it up against the wall,and see what sticks!

Discovery can be a wonderful thing...

[PatrickforB]

15. We can all give thanks to Leonard Leo, who is the billionaire PARASITE behind the

Federalist Society who has given us the MAGA super-majority in the Supreme Court. Leo needs a nice confiscatory wealth tax imposed on him, along with these other useless parasites, and we need to restructure the court.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

33. I wish

Lenard Leo
A world of pain, and loss of every thing he has along with every cent.

Poverty and disability and loss of status and power is what these parasites fear more than death itself.

Heratige foundation needs to be declared a terrorist organization

[liberalla]

17. F*** F*** F*** !!!

I'm so p*ssed off right now!

[Hekate]

18. Remember when SCOTUS gutted the Voting Rights Act? I guess the Sleazy Six think their work is not done.

[Figarosmom]

19. I hope we take

The House and Senate with large enough majorities to add more Supreme Court judges. Or impeach those that just broke election laws with this ruling.

[Native]

21. so what is the loophole? im so confused.

[Mblaze]

23. Is the Supremacy Clause an outlier in the "Originalist" mindset?

These decisions are so thick-headed and inconsistent. The Supremacy Clause is in the Constitution but Presidential immunity is not. The wrong "Right" on the Court are blithely unafraid to look completely dumb and woefully biased.

These empty robes want to eliminate our government and personal freedom, clearing the way for Trump's descent into Nazism.

[DSandra]

24. Provisional ballots are called "placebo ballots" by Thom Hartmann, they hardly ever get counted

[Dem4life1234]

29. Of course the timing

Fuck Repugs every single one of them.

I hate that they try to cheat with elections because their backwards politicies are not popular.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

31. They will

Purge dems with any error

And rethugs with the same errors will be counted

I think they’ll toss dem votes because republicans doing this shit are born losers

[BWdem4life]

34. All voters are equal

but some are more equal than others.