Arizona v. ITCA (Arizona)

In this case (formerly Arizona v. Gonzalez), registered voters in Arizona and voters’ rights groups–including Project Vote–challenged Proposition 200, an Arizona law that imposed proof of citizenship and voter ID requirements, which Plaintiffs argued disparately impact Latinos. Plaintiffs sought a Preliminary Injunction preventing the enforcement of these voter identification requirements.

The district court denied Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction on September 11, 2006. On August 20, 2008 the district court issued a judgment in favor of the defendants. After having the Supreme Court deny a preliminary injunction prior to the November 2010 federal elections, the plaintiffs took the case to trial. The plaintiffs appealed to the court of appeals and on October 26, 2010, the court reversed the district court’s decision on the issue of requiring proof of citizenship.

The state appealed the three judge panel’s decision to the Court of Appeals en banc. On April 17, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the panel’s decision. Following the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision, the State of Arizona appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which granted review. The Court heard oral arguments on March 18, 2013.

On June 17, 2013, the Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s ruling 7-2. The Court held that Arizona may include additional requirements as part of its state form, but it cannot layer additional requirements onto the federal form: states must accept the federal form as a complete and sufficient application for voter registration.