The steam must be pouring out of Russell Pearce's ears right about now...

From KOLD -

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Arizona's law requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote violates federal law.


The Ninth Circuit of Appeals opinion issued Tuesday found that the Arizona documentation requirement runs afoul of the National Voter Registration Act that states must use and accept the federal voter registration form without additional documentation requirements.

The Arizona requirement is part of Proposition 200 which voters was passed in 2004.

The full court opinion is here.

From Linda Brown, executive director of the Arizona Advocacy Network, a plaintiff in the lawsuit at the base of today's decision (via email) -

"The penalties against non-citizens registering to vote are very serious and have served Arizonans -- and all Americans -- well for decades.  The real crime is that this law disenfranchised tens of thousands of citizens who wanted to vote but lacked the documentation to register."

Howard Fischer coverage, via the East Valley Tribune, here.

Expect some coverage of the "sky is falling!" variety from the R blogosphere over this one, and soon.