President Joe Biden’s administration has filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona to block an election integrity law that requires voters to show proof of citizenship in order to vote in federal elections.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division claims that an Arizona state law, known as H.B. 2492, is “a textbook violation of the National Voter Registration Act,” The Hill reports.
DOJ’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, argues that the proof of citizenship requirement to vote also violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“For nearly three decades, the National Voter Registration Act has helped to move states in the right direction by eliminating unnecessary requirements that have historically made it harder for eligible voters to access the registration rolls. Arizona has passed a law that turns the clock back on progress by imposing unlawful and unnecessary requirements that would block eligible voters from the registration rolls for certain federal elections,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
The lawsuit states that a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision rejected a previous attempt by Arizona to require proof of citizenship documents of voters, and that the current state law violates that court decision, according to Reuters.
The DOJ further contends that a provision of the law requires election officials to reject certain voter registration forms based “on errors or omissions that are not material to establishing a voter’s eligibility to cast a ballot,” in violation of the Civil Rights Act.
This is not the first time Biden’s Civil Rights Division has targeted Arizona over the state Republican-led effort to secure elections.
During a state Senate audit of the 2020 presidential election last year, Pamela Karlan, the deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division sent a letter to Republican Senate President Karen Fann threatening potential legal action over any attempt to canvass voters. In May 2021, Karlan wrote that efforts by auditors to go door knocking and verify voter registrations were “potential intimidation of voters.”
The threat succeeded when Fann announced in reply to Karlan that plans to canvass voters had been put on indefinite hold.
Karlan, a political appointee and the No.2 official at the Civil Rights Division, has been criticized by conservative activists for using her position in the DOJ to advance an extreme-left agenda.
The American Accountability Foundation, a conservative watchdog group, has set up a website dedicated to exposing Karlan’s radical record, including how she has advanced transgender ideology in schools and prisons and worked with George Soros-funded nonprofits to intervene in Arizona’s election audit.
AAF founder Tom Jones said Tuesday’s lawsuit against Arizona “is exactly why Pamela Karlan was brought to DOJ.”
“Whether it is voter ID or door-to-door canvases Ms. Karlan is committed to using the tools of the United States Government to block the state of Arizona from using reasonable election oversight tools to administering a fair election,” Jones said.