Virginia seeks Supreme Court intervention to overturn judge's decision allowing noncitizens on voter rolls.

On Sunday, the state of Virginia submitted an emergency stay application to the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-minute attempt to reverse a lower court decision that stopped its removal of potential noncitizens and reinstated approximately 1,600 residents to the voter rolls.

The Fourth Circuit of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction granted by U.S. Judge Patricia Giles on Friday, which ordered Virginia to halt its process of removing potential noncitizens from its voter rolls and to reinstate all voters that had been removed in the last 90 days.

The decision of Giles to rule that the removals were "systematic" and thus violated federal law was upheld by the appellate court, dealing a blow to Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other Republicans in the state.

The NRVA mandates a 90-day "quiet period" prior to elections during which states must cease systematic voter roll maintenance.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department sued Virginia over its program, claiming that the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violated the "quiet period" provision.

Officials from the Justice Department raised concerns that eligible voters might have been mistakenly removed from the rolls without sufficient notice or time to rectify the error.

In the Supreme Court appeal, Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares raised several objections to the decision. He argued that the NRVA applies to noncitizens, which could undermine the primary basis of the lawsuit.

Miyares contended that the state's process for renewing vehicle registrations is still individualized, even though the NRVA applies.

The Department of Motor Vehicles compared its noncitizens list with its list of registered voters. Those without citizenship were informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship within 14 days.

According to Youngkin, the removal of voters was done legally and is supported by a 2006 state law signed by then-Gov. Kaine, a Democrat.

A federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals who self-identified as noncitizens back onto the voter rolls, just 11 days before a Presidential election, according to Youngkin's statement on Friday.