Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 24-3188, 24-3559, 24-4029 · judgment February 25, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Like every other State, Arizona permits only United States citizens to vote in federal elections. To enforce that qualification, Arizona requires every applicant who registers to vote to produce "satisfactory evidence of citizenship." Ariz. Rev. Stat. §16-121.01(C). If election officials obtain "information" from periodic inspections of Arizona's voter rolls that "confirms" a "person registered is not a United States citizen," they "cancel the registration." Id. §16-165(A) (10). The Ninth Circuit held that the National Voter Registration Act-52 U.S.C. §§20506(a)(6) (A)(ii), 20508(b)(1), 20507(c)(2)(a)-preempts those provisions of Arizona law. It also held that Arizona cannot require voter-registration applicants to produce proof of citizenship because in 2018, a previous Arizona Secretary of State entered a consent decree with private litigants. This Court has granted an emergency stay on each issue: One in this case and one in a Fourth Circuit case. The RNC raises both questions here on the merits. The questions presented are:
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Does the National Voter Registration Act or a federal consent decree prohibit Arizona from requiring voter-registration applicants to produce "satisfactory evidence" of U.S. citizenship when registering with a state registration form?
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Does the National Voter Registration Act prohibit Arizona from implementing a program within 90 days of a federal election to cancel the registrations of voters who are not U.S. citizens?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Gilbert Charles Dickey
Consovoy McCarthy, PLLC
For respondent
Joshua David Rothenberg Bendor
Office of the Arizona Attorney General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
5 cert-stage · 2 merits
(2 respondent)
Linked docket
25A673
Proceedings
- Sep 03 2026Amicus brief of The America First Policy Institute submitted.
- Sep 03 2026Amicus brief of Center for Election Confidence, Inc., Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, Inc., and Honest Elections Project submitted.
- Aug 28 2026Brief of petitioner Republican National Committee filed.
- Aug 28 2026Brief of respondent United States in support of petitioner filed.
- Aug 28 2026Brief of respondents Warren Petersen, President of the Arizona Senate, et al. in support of petitioner filed.
- Aug 28 2026Brief of respondents Arizona, et al. in partial support of petitioner filed.
- Jul 20 2026Motion to extend the time to file briefs on the merits granted. The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 28, 2026. The time to file respondents' briefs on the merits is extended to and including October 13, 2026.
- Jul 17 2026Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
- Jul 17 2026Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Republican National Committee.
- Jun 29 2026Petition GRANTED.
- Jun 22 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/25/2026.
- Jun 03 2026Reply of petitioner Republican National Committee filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
- Jun 02 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/18/2026.
- May 29 2026Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioner.
- May 26 2026Brief of respondent United States in support filed. VIDED
- May 26 2026Brief of respondents Democratic National Committee, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
- May 26 2026Brief of respondents Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity Coalition, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED
- May 26 2026Brief of respondents Mi Familia Vota, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amici curiae of Professor Michael T. Morley, et al. in support of neither party filed. VIDED.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amici curiae of Kansas, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amicus curiae of Federation for American Immigration Reform filed. VIDED.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amici curiae of Center for Election Confidence, Inc., et al. filed. VIDED.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amici curiae of Arizona Free Enterprise Club, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Mar 17 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 26, 2026, for all respondents.
- Mar 16 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 26, 2026 to May 26, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 19 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 26, 2026)
- Dec 09 2025Application (25A673) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until February 19, 2026.
- Dec 05 2025Application (25A673) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 21, 2025 to February 19, 2026, submitted to Justice Kagan.