A 50-year-old civil rights law firm is asking the state’s highest court to overturn a lower court decision striking down New York City’s noncitizen voting law and allow it to take effect a month after it was blocked.
Attorneys from the nonprofit LatinoJustice filed a notice of appeal on Friday after last month’s 3-to-1 ruling against Local Law 11. The law would apply to elections for local offices — including City Council, mayor, public advocate, comptroller and borough president — and would grant certain noncitizens in New York City, such as green card holders and those with work authorizations, the right to cast a ballot.
“This is a group that contributes financially to the success of the city. It’s a backbone of our culture and of our existence,” said Cesar Ruiz, associate counsel at LatinoJustice, referring to the city’s nearly one million legal immigrants who would be able to register as municipal voters under the law. “It was a blatant contradiction to us that they couldn’t vote.”
The drawn-out battle over the law runs in parallel with some of the thorniest and most controversial socioeconomic and policy challenges facing the city in recent years, where immigrant New Yorkers are repeatedly at the center of the debate, beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent arrival of thousands of migrants.
The legislation gained momentum in 2021, passing the City Council at the same time immigrants deemed “essential workers” in jobs like healthcare and food services were on the front lines battling the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout.
One day after the law was enacted in early 2022, Republican lawmakers led by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent it from taking effect, arguing it was unconstitutional and diluted the votes of U.S. citizens. After a state Supreme Court in Staten Island ruled in Fossella’s favor, the City of New York appealed that decision.
Last month, the Appellate Court,…
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