Supreme Court refuses to put proof-of-citizenship amendment on Michigan ballot

The justices were asked to intervene in a Michigan ballot fight after the invalidation of signatures tanked a proof-of-citizenship amendment.WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court refused to take emergency action Thursday to put a proof-of-citizenship amendment on Michigan ballots for the midterm elections.Americans for Citizen Voting asked the justices to intervene after the Michigan Board of State Canvassers invalidated its proposal despite surpassing the signature threshold. The group also asked the Supreme Court to act before the state’s highest court weighed in, to meet the quickly approaching deadline to make ballot changes.Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Donald Trump appointee, denied the application without referring the appeal to the full court. He did not explain his decision.“If respondents’ decision to keep ACVM’s petition off the ballot stands, then Michigan voters will never have a chance to vote on the petition, regardless of whether it should or should not have been placed on the ballot,” Americans for Citizen Voting wrote. “On the other hand, if ACVM’s petition is placed on the ballot and ACVM’s arguments ultimately fail, there will be no harm. The choice is thus between irreparable harm and no harm at all.”The Michigan Board of State Canvassers urged the justices to reject the highly unusual application. Citing a slew of issues with the appeal, the board said the Supreme Court shouldn’t be the first to review the case.“ACVM seeks an ‘emergency injunction’ that would mandate that its proposal be placed on Michigan’s November ballot,” the board wrote. “Such an injunction would alter the status quo, mandate actions to be taken by the respondents and grant the applicants all the relief they could ever recover for their claims. But this application does little to justify such an unusual request, other than to repeat the number of signatures they gathered — without acknowledging or contending with the high number of signatures that were found to be invalid.”Under state law, constitutional amendments need 446,198 valid signatures to gain ballot access. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers reviewed a random sample of 1,000 submitted signatures to certify the proposal and determined only 626 were valid.The Michigan Bureau of Elections conducted a similar review and only found 612 valid signatures.Americans for Citizen Voting asked the Michigan Supreme Court to overturn the board’s decision last week. But without action from the state high court, the group pushed for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. The justices typically rule only after lower courts have weighed in.The group blamed the board of canvassers for waiting over five months before denying its petition. And now Americans for Citizen Voting claims the Michigan Supreme Court is also delaying the case.Americans for Citizen Voting filed its emergency appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court just days before Michigan ballots were scheduled to be finalized on Friday.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads