Supreme Court temporarily halts lower court ruling ordering 1,600 voters back on Virginia voter rolls

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up an emergency challenge from Virginia, temporarily halting a federal judge's decision that ordered it to reinstate hundreds of potential noncitizens to the state's voter rolls. 

The decision is a victory for Gov. Glenn Youngkin and comes just days after the state of Virginia filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to halt a lower court decision ordering it to restore the names of some 1,600 individuals to its voter rolls. 

"We are pleased by the Supreme Court's order today," Youngkin told Fox News in a statement following the decision, which he described as a "victory for commonsense and election fairness."

"I am grateful for the work of Attorney General Jason Miyares on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens," he added.

At the heart of the case is whether Virginia's voter removal process violates a so-called quiet period under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), or a federal law requiring states to halt all "systematic" voter roll maintenance for a 90-day period before a federal election.

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That argument pitted the Department of Justice - which sued the state over its removal program earlier this month - against Youngkin, who insisted the state's process is "individualized" and conducted in accordance with state and federal law.