Justin here. I’m tracking the litigation over election issues related to COVID-19 … and the list of cases just hit 250. (The Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project also has a really useful sortable database of these cases, with more info.) A … Continue reading
Category Archives: court decisions
AP: Mississippi law does not allow absentee voting by all people who have health conditions that might make them vulnerable to COVID-19, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.A majority of justices reversed a Sept. 2 decision by Hinds County Chancery … Continue reading
In a thoughtful 37-page opinion, in one of the most closely watched pieces of litigation surrounding the conduct of the 2020 election, a federal court (Trump appointee Judge Nicholas Ranjan) has used Pullman abstention to decline to consider the Trump … Continue reading
A federal district court has rejected arguments that the system violates equal protection or the 26th amendment (which was made on the grounds that older voters can vote without an excuse but others cannot). It will not issue a preliminary … Continue reading
A very important and correct ruling on both due process and equal protection grounds. … Continue reading
From the unsigned order: Once again in its appellate briefs the Board asks this court to reverse the district court’s decisions and permit the Board to determine the best options for balancing the, plaintiffs’ interests with the statutory ballot access … Continue reading
AL.com: A state judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by disability advocates challenging provisions of Alabama’s absentee ballot laws, saying his court lacked jurisdiction and the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.The lawsuit, initially filed in May in Montgomery County … Continue reading
Tennesseean: Fear of COVID-19 will not be a reason to vote by mail in the November general election, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. Absentee ballots filed for Thursday’s primary will remain valid, according to the court.The high court’s decision reverses a … Continue reading
News & Observer: Fears of coronavirus endangering voters in North Carolina this fall — or potentially lowering voter turnout — aren’t enough to force the state to change many of its elections laws, a federal judge has ruled.However, U.S. District … Continue reading
With at least three of the Court’s four liberal Justices dissenting, the Supreme Court refused to intervene in a case involving Florida felon voting rights, with big implications for voting in November. The procedural path of this case is complex, … Continue reading
AP: The Michigan appeals court denied a request to require the counting of absentee ballots received after the time polls close on Election Day, ruling that the deadline remains intact despite voters’ approval of a constitutional amendment that expanded mail-in … Continue reading
Following up on this post, you can read this order. … Continue reading
Release: A Montana court has blocked a state law that severely restricts the right to vote for Native Americans.The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Montana, and Native American Rights Fund successfully sought the preliminary injunction halting the so-called Montana … Continue reading
You can find the 27-page unanimous decision, with no explanation for the 3 year delay in this case, at this link. This is mostly a loss for the plaintiffs in these cases, as the appeals court rejected many (though not … Continue reading
Here is the order. And two of the judges had this to say about the Purcell principle: “Purcell is not a magic wand that defendants can wave to make any unconstitutional election restriction disappear so long as an impending election … Continue reading
Texas Tribune: A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Democrats’ effort to reinstate the straight-ticket voting option in Texas.Siding with the state, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo found that Democrats lacked standing to challenge Texas Republicans’ decision to kill straight-ticket voting … Continue reading
Opinion here. Josh Douglas thread starts here: BREAKING: KY denies plaintiff’s claim that having only one polling place on June 23 violates the Constitution and the Voting Right Act. 1/— Josh Douglas (@JoshuaADouglas) June 19, 2020 … Continue reading
I’ve just taken up a suggestion to include a new tag, Court Decisions, on #ELB. We will use it when the post includes a link to a new court decision (not to commentary on court decisions or other information about … Continue reading
You can find the court’s order at this link. The court along the way was pretty dismissive of the rights of third parties. The Eleventh Circuit rejected a similar challenge to Florida law on standing grounds. … Continue reading
Brent Ferguson has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Washington Law Review). Here is the abstract: A substantial portion of constitutional law rests on untested factual predictions made by the Supreme Court. Such forecasts have played a large role in … Continue reading