Arizona is attempting to ignore federal law to silence the voices of its voters.
Since 2004 the state has been trying to make it harder for Americans to register to vote and access the ballot box.
Arizona was the first state to enact a law that requires voters to provide burdensome citizenship documentation to register to vote, and Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been fighting alongside Arizonans for nearly a decade to protect them against harmful laws that restrict their freedom to vote.
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a long-running case brought by CLC and our partners challenging Arizona’s burdensome documentary proof of citizenship laws. In this case, the Court will consider whether the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), will continue to protect all eligible voters against last-minute purges of registered voters.
Campaign Legal Center will continue to defend the NVRA and Arizonans’ right to vote at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Where did this case begin?
In 2004, Arizona passed a law requiring voters to provide additional documentation to register to vote that is not required under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
The NVRA is an important federal law that ensures that every American citizen can register to vote and make their voices heard in our elections. It prohibits states from enacting harmful, burdensome and unnecessary laws that would make it harder for Americans to register and access the ballot.
Since this Arizona law violated the NVRA, Arizonans sued, and the case made its way up to the Supreme Court. The Court agreed with the plaintiffs and ruled that the new law was indeed a violation of the NVRA.
In response to this ruling, Arizona created a dual registration system: voters could either register to vote using the federal voter registration form or the state voter registration form.
Voters who applied with either form and provided extra documentation could vote for any office. Voters who applied using the state form without this documentation had their applications rejected. Voters who applied using the federal form without extra documentation were registered only for federal elections (they are referred to as “federal only” voters).
In 2018, Campaign Legal Center sued over this new dual registration system.
As a result of this dual registration system, election officials in Arizona were determining whether to register voters for federal elections based solely on whether the voter submitted a state-issued registration form or a federal registration form. CLC, on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Arizona Students Association (ASA), sued arguing this was illegal – election officials must accept either form to register voters for federal elections.
As a result of a consent decree entered to resolve the lawsuit, election officials were required to treat voters who registered with the state form in the same way they treated voters who registered with the federal form
If the voter submitted extra documentation with their application, or if the state already had this documentation on file for them, the voter would be registered as a full-ballot voter. If not, they would be registered as a federal-only voter — regardless of which form they used to register.
This was a victory for voters in Arizona who fought in court to protect their rights under the NVRA.
However, in 2022, the Arizona Legislature passed another law — H.B. 2492 — which required Arizona election officials to reject state form applications that lacked the additional documentation they were requesting.
The new law also prohibited voters who did not produce specific documents from using vote-by-mail, early voting, or voting for president.
H.B. 2492 also required voters’ registration forms to be rejected if they failed to include their birthplace or mark a checkbox indicating their U.S. citizenship — even if they submitted documentation proving their citizenship with their application.
CLC sued again, arguing that H.B. 2492 was another violation of the NVRA and the Civil Rights Act.
H.B. 2492 returned Arizona to its arbitrary dual-registration system, where the freedom to vote in federal elections is contingent on which form the voter uses to register.
This new Arizona law was in direct violation of federal law, which prohibits states from creating unnecessary barriers that restrict Americans’ freedom to vote.
Campaign Legal Center got several provisions of this anti-voter bill blocked in the U.S. District Court for Arizona in 2023.
But in 2024, the Supreme Court issued an order partially pausing the district court’s order and allowed to go into effect — for the first time — provisions of the law requiring additional documentation for Arizonans who use the state voter registration form, while keeping the district court’s order in place and preventing changes to mail-in and presidential voting.
In 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s rulings, in another victory for Arizonans defending their freedom to vote.
Where are we now?
In 2026, intervenor-defendants including the Republican National Committee (RNC) and several Arizona legislative leaders asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up this case via a petition for a writ of certiorari.
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the RNC’s petition and agreed to hear the case. Briefing and arguments will be scheduled by the Court at a future date.
Campaign Legal Center will continue defending the NVRA and the rights of all Americans to vote free from unlawful and unreasonable burdens imposed by lawmakers.
Join us in the fight today.