The nation’s highest court is allowing the Grand Canyon State to bolster election integrity with a new law ensuring only U.S. citizens vote. On Thursday, the court issued a 5-4 order partially granting and partially denying a requested stay of judgment issued by a lower court against an Arizona law requiring proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote. In other words, Arizona can continue requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration in most cases, although further efforts by the state to bar non-citizens from voting have been temporarily put on hold.

In 2022, the Arizona state legislature passed a bill, which was signed into law shortly afterward by then-Governor Doug Ducey (R), requiring proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in the state. Proof of citizenship had been a requirement for voter registration since 2004, but a Supreme Court ruling in 2013 allowed Arizona residents to register to vote using a federal form, which did not require proof of citizenship. Among other things, the law passed in 2022 would have required proof of citizenship even if registering to vote via the federal form.

Democrats quickly sued, and a district court issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the law in its entirety from going into effect and allowing voter registration without proof of citizenship. That injunction was reinforced earlier this month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court, asking for the preliminary injunction to be stayed while the case continues to work its way through the courts. The RNC noted in its request that the Supreme Court has repeatedly insisted that federal courts are barred “from enjoining the enforcement of state election laws with an election impending.”

The request continued, “The principle recognizes the important interests state officials have in protecting their elections and avoiding voter confusion.” The RNC cited the Supreme Court’s own words in the 2006 case Purcell v. Gonzalez to make the argument that “‘when a lower court intervenes and alters the election rules’ with an erroneous order, an appellate court must ‘correct that error,’ even if it ‘would prefer not to do so.’”

The Supreme Court’s order issued Thursday partially stays the injunction, allowing Arizona to enforce its proof-of-citizenship law when voters register with the state. However, the court was split three ways on Arizona’s requirement of proof of citizenship whether registering to vote via with the state or via the federal form. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch wrote that they would have granted the RNC’s request in full, allowing the Arizona law to take effect completely. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed in part, thus allowing much of Arizona’s law to take effect but reserved judgment on the latter part of the request until the case is appealed up to the Supreme Court.

However, in a move that came as a surprise to most conservatives, Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — considered to be the court’s left wing — and would have denied the request in its entirety. No justices issued opinions explaining their decisions.

The issue of non-citizens voting in U.S. elections has come to the forefront in recent years, especially as the Biden-Harris administration has allowed an estimated 10 million or more illegal immigrants into the country. Some states have made efforts to ensure non-citizens do not vote in U.S. elections. Virginia, for example, recently cleared over 6,300 non-citizens from its voter rolls, as part of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s (R) push to ensure election integrity. Just last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the issue of non-citizens voting in American elections “a very clear and real threat…”

Johnson also alleged that Democrats “want illegal immigrants to be turned into voters.” The speaker explained, “Only American citizens should decide American elections. But not all Democrats agree with that. And they want to affect the census in six years by putting people around and changing the congressional map. And they want to affect elections between now and then. We’ve got to stop it.” Referring to illegal immigrants, he added, “If just one out of every 100 of them tried to vote in a local election — because they’re spread all around the country — you could change the outcome of the presidential race or certainly congressional races.”

A study published earlier this year anticipated that up to 2.7 million illegal immigrants may vote in November’s election, with between 10% and 27% of illegal immigrants currently being illicitly registered to vote.