Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-71_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 28.0

4 

ARIZONA v. INTER TRIBAL COUNCIL OF ARIZ. INC. 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

to provide photo identification to verify that the customer 
is eligible to use the credit card”).

JUSTICE  ALITO  makes  a  compelling  case  that  Arizona’s
interpretation  is  superior  to  respondents’.    See  post,  at 
6–10  (dissenting  opinion).  At  a  minimum,  however,  the 
interpretations  advanced  by  Arizona  and  respondents  are 
both  plausible.  See  677  F. 3d,  at  439  (Kozinski,  C.J., 
concurring)  (weighing  the  arguments).  The  competing 
interpretations of §1973gg–4(a)(1) raise significant consti-
tutional  issues  concerning  Congress’  power  to  decide  who 
may  vote  in  federal  elections.    Accordingly,  resolution  of 
this  case  requires  a  better  understanding  of  the  relevant
constitutional provisions. 

II
 
A 

The  Voter  Qualifications  Clause,  U. S.  Const.,  Art.  I, 
§2,  cl. 1,  provides  that  “the  Electors  in  each  State  shall 
have  the  Qualifications  requisite  for  Electors  of  the  most
numerous Branch of the State Legislature” in elections for 
the  federal  House  of  Representatives.    The  Seventeenth 
Amendment, which provides for direct election of Senators, 
contains  an  identical  clause.  That  language  is  suscep- 
tible  of  only  one  interpretation:  States  have  the  author- 
ity “to control who may vote in congressional elections” so 
long as they do not “establish special requirements that do
not  apply  in  elections  for  the  state  legislature.”    U. S. 
Term  Limits,  Inc.  v.  Thornton,  514  U. S.  779,  864–865 
(1995)  (THOMAS,  J.,  dissenting);  see  also  The  Federalist 
No.  57,  p.  349  (C.  Rossiter  ed.  2003)  (J.  Madison)  (“The 
electors  . . .  are  to  be  the  same  who  exercise  the  right  in
every  State  of  electing  the  corresponding  branch  of  the
legislature of the State”).  Congress has no role in setting
voter  qualifications,  or  determining  whether  they  are 
satisfied,  aside  from  the  powers  conferred  by  the  Four-
teenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-