A NY State Supreme Court judge has invalidated a law passed by the New York City Council which would have allowed authorized noncitizen residents to vote in municipal elections. The judge ruled that the city council did not have the authority to expand the franchise in this direction, since the language of the state constitution requires a person to have US citizenship to vote. In order to change the constitution, an amendment would need to be passed through a referendum approved by the voters of the state. Advocates of the struck-down law have said they hope to appeal the decision.