Breaking: 7th Circuit Denies Stay of Second WI Voting Decision Involving Early Voting Etc.

The 7th Circuit has just denied a request for a stay in the second voting case involving WI rollback of early voting etc.

This ruling is from the same panel that granted the stay in the affidavit voter id case (Easterbrook, Sykes, Kanne.). If Wisconsin could not convince these judges to order a stay in this case, there is no hope of going to the 7th Circuit en banc. The only hope would be an emergency stay request at the Supreme Court. Given the closeness to the election, the state would have to move very soon for the Court to even consider such a stay. Even then, getting over the 4-4 ideological split seems iffy.  If you can’t get Easterbrook, you likely can’t get Kennedy.

The fact that the court denied the stay without issuing an opinion could be a sign that the court recognizes the urgency of the time.  An opinion can come later when there is an appeal on the merits.  It could be a sign that the issues raised by Wisconsin are frivolous.

What this means: Wisconsin needs to go ahead and let localities [corrected] continue to set voting hours and otherwise implement the judge’s order.

Still pending at the full 7th Circuit en banc is the question of what to do about the affidavit requirement to soften Wisconsin’s strict voter id law, which the trial court in the first Wisconsin case put in place and which the 7th Circuit panel stayed.

It ain’t quite over folks, but we are getting there in Wisconsin.

[This post has been updated.]

 

Share this: