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The Supreme Court must be on the side of voting rights. Today's decision is a bad omen.

Robert Reich Oct 30

Friends,

Sorry to intrude on your Wednesday but the Supreme Court decided today to allow Virginia to resume purging names from its voter registration rolls. Virginia has purged 1,600 names in the last two months.

Republican officials claim it’s a legitimate effort to stop noncitizens from voting.

But there’s little or no evidence — in Virginia or anywhere else — that non-citizens have voted or are likely to vote.

The Justice Department and civil rights groups allege that U.S. citizens are being caught up in the purge. They also argue that Virginia’s purge violates the “quiet period” of the National Voter Registration Act, a three-decade-old federal law barring states from systematically removing voters from the rolls during the 90 days before a federal election.

Last week, a federal district judge ordered Virginia to stop the program and restore voters whose registrations have been canceled since early August.

As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision today, voters who are eliminated from the rolls may have difficulty getting an absentee ballot before Election Day. Showing up at the polls to discover that they’re not on the voter list will also create delays and confusion. Letters sent to suspected non-citizens mention criminal penalties for illegal voting, which could discourage some citizens from exercising their right to vote.

To make matters worse, the Supreme Court’s decision was 6 to 3 — with all 6 Republican appointees voting to allow Virginia to resume purging names and all 3 Democratic appointees dissenting from the action.

Even worse, the Court didn’t give any reasons. It simply issued a terse, one-page order.

Public confidence in the Supreme Court has already sunk to a near-record low.

At this stressful time in American politics, when Trump and his lapdogs have stirred up baseless fears that the nation is becoming overwhelmed with undocumented people crossing our borders illegally, the Supreme Court must come down squarely on the side of voting rights and not on the side of demagogic fear.

For the Court to intervene in a voting case just days before the 2024 election — and do so on the side of those who want to purge voters, and on the basis of no evidence of voter fraud, and with what appear to be partisan motives — is a bad omen for the next few months when it seems likely the Court will be called on to decide any number of cases emerging from the 2024 election.