A New York appeals court upheld a prior ruling that struck down a New York City law giving local voting rights to nearly a million foreign nationals.
As Breitbart News chronicled, Democrats on the 51-member New York City Council approved a plan in January 2022 that gave more than 800,000 foreign nationals with green cards, visas, and work permits the opportunity to vote in citywide elections so long as they have resided in the city for at least 30 consecutive days.
Black New Yorkers, along with naturalized American citizens, the New York State Republican Party, the Republican National Committee (RNC), and Democrat officials like Councilman Robert Holden subsequently sued Mayor Eric Adams (D) and the city’s Board of Elections.
In June 2022, the New York Supreme Court ruled that giving local voting rights to foreign nationals violated the state’s constitution, which explicitly reserves voting for American “citizens.”
On Wednesday, the New York Appellate Division upheld that decision:
Since this is, in part, a declaratory judgment action, we remit the matter to the Supreme Court, Richmond County, for the entry of a judgment, inter alia, declaring that the Local Law is null and void on the grounds that it violates the New York State Constitution and the Municipal Home Rule Law. [Emphasis added]
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) President J. Christian Adams, who filed suit against Adams over the law on behalf of black New Yorkers, said the ruling “marks an important step to stop foreign interference in New York City’s elections.”
“The Public Interest Legal Foundation’s lawsuit shows that not only did this foreign citizen voting law violate New York’s laws but also the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act,” Adams said. “Members of the New York City Council made explicit statements that race was the motivation behind this voting law. In America, we do not allow race-based voting restrictions.”
The Appellate Division suggested that the law would have eventually opened elected offices to foreign nationals and that foreign voters would become about 15 percent of the city’s electorate — often much larger than the margin of victory.
The case is Fossella v. Adams, No. 85007-22 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
