This morning, the MAGA justices issued an ominous order in a Virginia election case, choosing party over country. As MAGA forces work to sabotage the election and end our democracy, the eyes of the nation are on the Supreme Court. The Virginia decision is an ominous sign. It came without explanation, and over the dissent of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson.
What happened in Virginia, and why was it illegal?
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered state officials to expedite the use of information from the state department of motor vehicles to identify and cancel the voter registration of suspected non-citizens unless they could prove their citizenship within fourteen days. This system inaccurately flags citizens who are eligible to vote. Nevertheless, Virginia moved ahead and removed about 1,600 people from the rolls.
This order directly violates a federal law: The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) bars states from systematically removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a general election.
What did the lower courts do?
A federal district court ordered Virginia to stop. As People For has reported, this was upheld by a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit. The court ordered Virginia to restore the voting rights of anyone removed within 90 days of the election as a result of this program. Biden Judge Toby Heytens wrote that the court must “ensure that people who are legally entitled to vote are not prevented from doing so by faulty databases or bureaucratic mistakes.”
Virginia Republicans appealed to the Supreme Court.
What did the MAGA justices do?
In a shadow docket order, the Court justices stayed the lower court decisions. In other words, they allowed Virginia’s MAGA governor to continue his purge of voters even though it is within 90 days of the election. The 1600 voters already purged and other voters wrongfully removed from the rolls will not be automatically restored.
The Court gave no explanation for its order. Nor was there an explanation for the dissent of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson.
This issue has already arisen in other states, such as Alabama. The order is an ominous sign, less than a week before Election Day.