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Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Blue state's top court strikes down law allowing noncitizens to vote
The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, blocked a law on Thursday allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections. A former New York City Council member responded to the ruling by saying it should have been an "open and shut case" and that the law was "embarrassing." In a court filing by New York City attorneys, the city said non-U.S. citizens make up about a third of the adult population in the city. The near unanimous, 6-1, decision blocks a law passed in 2021 by New York City's majority Democratic city council that would have made nearly 1 million noncitizens eligible to vote in municipal elections, including for mayor and city council. Blue Sanctuary State Operating As 'Control' Center For Vicious Migrant Gang: Acting Dea Chief Those arguing in favor of the law claimed that a provision in the New York Constitution on the qualifications of voters only guaranteed the right of citizens over 18 to vote while not denying that right to noncitizens. Read On The Fox News App Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote in the decision that the New York state Constitution clearly articulates that only citizens are eligible to vote. Wilson wrote that under the appellants' logic, municipalities would be "free to enact legislation that would enable anyone to vote – including… 13-year-old children." "The New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens," he said. "It is plain from the language and restrictions contained in that 'citizen' is not meant as a floor, but as a condition of voter eligibility: the franchise extends only to citizens whose right to vote is established by proper proofs." 'Safer Without Him': Columbia Student Claims Classmate Arrested By Ice 'Hates America' Joe Borelli, one of the plaintiffs in the case and a former New York City councilman who voted against the law, told Fox News Digital that "the state Constitution and statutes are plainly written and in clear language." "This has always been an open and shut case, and it's embarrassing that the city council fought so hard to skirt the law, undermine the Constitution, and weaken the votes of citizens," he said. The ruling upholds an earlier decision by a lower court invalidating the law. Associate Judge Jenny Rivera was the only member of the court to article source: Blue state's top court strikes down law allowing noncitizens to vote
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New York's top court strikes down NYC noncitizen voting law after protracted legal battle
After a legal battle spanning nearly four years, New York's top court on Thursday struck down a city law as unconstitutional that would've expanded the right to vote in local elections to hundreds of thousands of noncitizen residents. The ruling from the State Court of Appeals likely marks the final nail in the coffin for the law, as the City Council, which adopted the measure in 2021, has no higher venue to appeal the matter to. In the 21-page ruling, issued by six of the top court's seven jurists, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote that New York's constitution leaves no wiggle room when it comes to who has the right to vote in the Empire State. 'It is facially clear that only citizens may vote in elections within the State of New York,' he wrote. However, Wilson, citing French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote that the U.S. has long moved toward 'expansion' of voting rights, typically via constitutional amendments. 'Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens,' Wilson added. Spokespeople for the overwhelmingly Democratic City Council, which has defended the law in court, didn't immediately return requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Mayor Adams, who allowed the Council bill to lapse into law in January 2022 without signing it, stressed it was the Council, not the mayor, who pursued the appeal to Wilson's bench after lower courts ruled the law unconstitutional too. 'The highest court in New York State has made its decision, and we respect the court's ruling,' added the Adams spokeswoman, Kayla Mamelak. The law would've granted green card holders and some other legal immigrant New York City residents the right to vote in most local elections, including for mayor, public advocate, comptroller and Council. It would not have given such residents the right to vote in presidential or gubernatorial elections. At the time it passed the law in late 2021, the Council estimated it would've given 800,000 new city residents the right to vote locally. But the same day the law took effect, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and other local Republicans sued to block it, arguing it flew in the face of the state constitution. Opponents of the law have also claimed an expansion of voting rights would unfairly help Democratic candidate for public office. A court fight has dragged on ever since the Fossella lawsuit, and amid it, the mayor's administration hasn't moved to implement the law. Associate Court of Appeals Judge Jenny Rivera, the lone dissenter to Thursday's ruling, wrote in her own opinion that the city's home rule ability to have decision-making power over local matters should've trumped the state constitutional restriction. The decision from her colleagues, Rivera added, 'diminishes the power of localities statewide.'
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New York City law allowing non-citizens to vote struck down by court
By Joseph Ax (Reuters) -New York State's top court on Thursday struck down a New York City law that would have permitted more than 800,000 legal non-citizens to vote in municipal elections. In a 6-1 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that the law, passed by the City Council in 2021, violates the state constitution. "Americans have fought over the meaning of citizenship and the right to vote since the earliest days of our Republic," Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote for the majority. "Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens." New York's law would have allowed permanent legal residents and other legally documented non-citizens, such as those with work authorization, who had lived in the city for at least 30 days to cast ballots in municipal contests. Non-citizens would still have been barred from voting in state or federal elections. The law had been blocked from taking effect by lower court rulings, after state Republicans challenged its constitutionality. More than a dozen U.S. cities and towns, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C., allow non-citizens to vote in some local elections. Several Republican-controlled states have passed laws in recent years affirming that non-citizens cannot vote, prompted by President Donald Trump's false claims that millions of undocumented immigrants have voted illegally in U.S. elections.
Reuters
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
New York City law allowing non-citizens to vote struck down by court
March 20 (Reuters) - New York State's top court on Thursday struck down a New York City law that would have permitted more than 800,000 legal non-citizens to vote in municipal elections. In a 6-1 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that the law, passed by the City Council in 2021, violates the state constitution. "Americans have fought over the meaning of citizenship and the right to vote since the earliest days of our Republic," Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote for the majority. "Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens." New York's law would have allowed permanent legal residents and other legally documented non-citizens, such as those with work authorization, who had lived in the city for at least 30 days to cast ballots in municipal contests. Non-citizens would still have been barred from voting in state or federal elections. The law had been blocked from taking effect by lower court rulings, after state Republicans challenged its constitutionality. More than a dozen U.S. cities and towns, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C., allow non-citizens to vote in some local elections. false claims that millions of undocumented immigrants have voted illegally in U.S. elections.
