A judge has just thrown out a lawsuit that challenged a Washington, D.C., law that allows noncitizens to vote in municipal elections. 

The judge who did so, according to Fox News, is Judge Amy Berman Jackson, a Barack Obama appointee who is a member of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Jackson issued her ruling in a 12-page opinion that she released on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

The judge dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds.

Background

At issue in the case is D.C.'s Local Resident Voting Rights Act, which was passed by the D.C. Council back in October 2022.

WTOP News, at the time, reported, "The 'Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022' will allow green card holders and residents who entered or live in the country without legal permission the right to cast their ballots in local races starting in 2024. They will not be able to vote in federal elections under the bill."

Yes, you did read that right. The bill does indeed allow illegal immigrants to vote in local elections.

The outlet continues, "Under the legislation, noncitizen residents could vote as long as they meet all other D.C. voting requirements: they are 18 or older and they have lived in the District of Columbia for at least 30 days."

The law, according to Fox News, "also permits noncitizen residents to run for D.C. government offices and serve on the city's Board of Elections."

The legal challenge

The law was challenged by a group of U.S. citizen voters represented by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI).

The group argued:

[The law] dilutes the vote of every U.S. citizen voter in the District. Because it does so, the D.C. Noncitizen Voting Act is subject to review under both the equal protection and the substantive due process components of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The case did not, however, make it to the merits. Instead, Jackson dismissed it on procedural grounds, claiming that the plaintiffs did not have the legal standing required to bring the lawsuit.

Jackson wrote:

[The plaintiff's complaint] does not include facts showing plaintiffs' right to vote has been denied, that they have been subjected to discrimination or inequitable treatment or denied opportunities when compared to another group, or that their rights as citizens have been "subordinated merely because of [their] father’s country of origin." They identify nothing that has been taken away or diminished and no right that has been made subordinate to anyone else's

IRLI is expected to appeal the ruling.