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On Friday, a Democrat-appointed federal judge ordered Virginia to put more than 1,500 allegedly “self-identified” noncitizens back on the state’s voter rolls ahead of the November contest.

“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals — who self-identified themselves as noncitizens — back onto the voter rolls,” Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.

The order came in response to a request from the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ), which sued the commonwealth last week to prevent its elections department from removing noncitizens and other ineligible registrants from the voter rolls before Nov. 5.

The highly politicized agency alleged such actions constitute violations of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. That law requires states to complete “not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.”

According to Fox News, Judge Patricia Giles, a Biden appointee, “issued a preliminary injunction … to reinstate all [individuals] that had been removed from state voter rolls in the state in the last 90 days, finding that the removals had been in fact ‘systematic,’ not individualized.” Using this logic, she reportedly argued the state violated federal law.

Youngkin contended that nearly all the 1,500-plus “self-identified” foreign nationals removed from the rolls “had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities.” The GOP governor further noted that the law the state used to remove these individuals from the registration lists was signed into law by then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who is now a U.S. Senator.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares expressed similar outrage at Giles’ decision in a Friday statement. The commonwealth’s chief law enforcement officer specifically noted his concern about “the open practice by the Biden-Harris administration to weaponize the legal system against the enemies of so-called progress.”

“That is the definition of lawfare. To openly choose weaponization over good process and lawfare over integrity isn’t democracy: it’s bullying, pure and simple, and I always stand up to bullies,” Miyares said.

Youngkin and Miyares announced in their respective statements that the commonwealth will appeal the decision to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and “if necessary,” the U.S. Supreme Court.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood