A federal judge on Thursday tossed a conservative legal group's lawsuit against a controversial Washington, D.C. law that allows noncitizens — including illegal immigrants and foreign embassy staff members — to vote in municipal elections. 

In a 12-page opinion, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the plaintiffs, a group of U.S. citizen voters represented by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), lacked standing to challenge the law because they could not demonstrate how they are harmed by noncitizens who vote and run for local office. 

The complaint "does not include facts showing plaintiffs' right to vote has been denied, that they have been subjected to discrimination or inequitable treatment or denied opportunities when compared to another group, or that their rights as citizens have been ‘subordinated merely because of [their] father’s country of origin," Jackson wrote.