The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on October 18, 2024, to allow Virginia to continue a program removing approximately 1,600 alleged non-citizens from its voter rolls, overriding a lower court's order that had blocked the purge under the National Voter Registration Act's prohibition on systematic voter list maintenance within 90 days of a federal election. The ruling was confirmed by Fox News, NPR, CNN, the Brennan Center, and the Virginia Department of Elections.
Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett formed the majority, allowing the purge to continue pending a full appeal. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented, with Sotomayor writing that the majority's action 'defies the plain text' of the NVRA and 'risks denying the right to vote to thousands of U.S. citizens who were mistakenly flagged as non-citizens.'
The Virginia program matched state Department of Motor Vehicle records against federal immigration databases; civil rights groups noted that the matching process had high error rates and had flagged naturalized citizens and even native-born Americans. The DOJ under the Biden administration had sued Virginia, arguing the purge violated the NVRA's quiet period.
Fox News and conservative election-security groups praised the ruling as allowing states to enforce election laws without federal interference from the DOJ. NPR and the Brennan Center warned that the rushed purge in the final weeks before the election risked removing eligible voters who would have no time to correct errors before casting a ballot. Both sides agreed the NVRA's 90-day quiet period was the central legal question.
Left-Leaning Emphasis
- NPR and Brennan Center said the data-matching process had significant error rates and could remove eligible citizens.
- Sotomayor's dissent — warning the ruling 'risks denying the vote to thousands of U.S. citizens' — was featured prominently in left coverage.
- Left outlets noted naturalized citizens had been flagged due to imperfect DMV-to-immigration database matching.
Right-Leaning Emphasis
- Fox News praised the ruling as allowing Virginia to 'clean its voter rolls' without DOJ interference.
- Daily Wire said the 90-day quiet period was being used as a shield to prevent states from enforcing election laws.
- Right outlets cited polls showing large majorities support removing non-citizens from voter rolls.