The
Supreme
Court
is
cracking
its
knuckles
in
preparation
to
do
something
absolutely
batshit
next
week.
This
morning,
the
six
conservative
justices
allowed
the
state
of
Virginia
to
purge
voters
in
blatant
violation
of
the
National
Voter
Registration
Act’s
90-day
quiet
period.
On
the
shadow
docket,
natch.
The
NVRA
specifically
instructs
states
to
“complete,
not
later
than
90
days
prior
to
the
date
of
a
primary
or
general
election
for
Federal
office,
any
program
the
purpose
of
which
is
to
systematically
remove
the
names
of
ineligible
voters
from
the
official
lists
of
eligible
voters.”
(52
USC
§
20507(c)(2)(A)).
On
August
7,
exactly
90
days
before
the
election,
Virginia
Governor
Glen
Youngkin
signed
an
executive
order
instructing
the
Commissioner
of
the
Department
of
Elections
to
remove
any
voter
who
refused
to
attest
to
citizenship
with
the
DMV
when
applying
to
vote.
The
reason
the
NVRA
bans
such
systemic
removals
on
the
eve
of
the
election
is
because
it
always
sweeps
in
lots
of
voters
who
are
in
fact
US
citizens
—
either
because
they
have
become
citizens
since
they
got
their
drivers
licenses,
or
because
they
submitted
proof
when
registering
to
vote
which
they
simply
did
not
have
to
hand
in
when
applying
for
a
drivers
license,
or
because
they
checked
the
wrong
box.
That’s
why
both
the
government
and
a
coalition
of
immigrants’
rights
groups
sued,
and
it’s
why
the
trial
court
and
the
Fourth
Circuit
agreed
that
the
law
should
be
stayed
and
the
affected
voters
restored
to
eligibility.
Indeed,
the
respondents
brief
by
the
Virginia
Coalition
for
Immigrant
Rights
noted
that
multiple
citizens
had
been
affected
by
this
purge
and
had
their
legal
registrations
canceled.
But
the
Supreme
Court did
not
care.
It
let
the
Virginia
purge
go
into
effect,
and
may
well
do
the
same
for
a
similar
purge
in
Alabama,
which
was
blocked
by
Trump
appointee
Judge
Anna
Manasco.
The
Supreme
Court’s
six
conservatives
could
not
send
a
clearer
message
that
they
are
a
bunch
of
red-pilled
goons,
mainlining
Fox
News’s
constant
repetition
of
the
lie
that
hordes
of
non-citizens
are
risking
arrest
and
deportation
to
do
something
a
third
of
Americans
can’t
even
be
bothered
to
get
off
the
couch
for.
The
ruling
is
flagrantly
at
odds
with
Justice
Kavanaugh’s
pet Purcell
doctrine,
invented
to
allow
red
states
to
continue
using
illegal
congressional
maps
because
it
might
confuse
voters
on
the
eve
of
an
election
to
vote
in
fair
districts.
Purcell’s
application
has
been
somewhat
capricious,
with
the
Supreme
Court’s
conservatives
insisting
that
four
months
before
the
primary
was
far
too
late
to
undo
an
illegal
racial
gerrymander,
but
three
months
is
just
fine
for
a
rule
that
affects
voter
registration
in
Arizona.
But
those
decisions
look
almost
rational
compared
to
this
morning’s
ruling
allowing
Virginia
to
purge
voters
during
a
period
in
which
Congress
has
specifically
disallowed
it.
And,
as
ATL’s
own
Joe
Patrice
points
out,
Virginia
had
the
temerity
to
argue
in
its
application
for
stay
that
“The
district
court
based
the
injunction,
which
mandates
a
variety
of
disruptive
measures
in
addition
to
forcing
noncitizens
back
on
the
ballot,
on
a
provision
of
the
National
Voter
Registration
Act
(NVRA)
that
does
not
even
apply
to
the
removal
of
noncitizens
and
other
voter
registrations
that
are
void
ab
initio.”
The
VRA’s
90-day
provision
applies
to
voter
rolls,
not
“forcing
non-citizens
back
on
the
ballot.”
These
assholes
are
about
to
do
something
that
makes
Bush
v.
Gore
and Trump
v.
US
look
like
reasoned,
non-partisan
exercises
of
justice.
And
then
they’ll
have
the
temerity
to
whine
about
being
criticized
for
it!
Beals
v.
Virginia
Coalition
for
Immigrant
Rights
[SCOTUS
docket]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.