Victories for common sense and the rule of law are all too rare at Albany, where Democrats dominate. All the more reason to applaud today’s ruling by New York’s top court against non-citizen voting. New York City Democrats had sought to allow “lawful permanent residents” to vote in municipal elections. The high court, based on what seems like a clear-eyed reading of the state charter, finds the state “Constitution limits voting to citizens.”

The ruling hands a win to the Republican party officials who brought suit against the law — so the measure’s defeat by the Court of Appeals is, at least nominally, a defeat for the Democrats. Yet these columns have marked how non-citizen voting could have proven to be less of a boon than anticipated for Democrats. That’s because of the trend — exemplified in the November election — that has seen minorities flee the Democratic party for the GOP.