Joan Biskupic for CNN. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Supreme Court
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New Josh Douglas at CNN. … Continue reading
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I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: After a very long delay in an emergency election case, the shorthanded United States Supreme Court came to a 4-4 tie in an election law case out of Pennsylvania on Monday evening. While … Continue reading
Ellen Weintraub NYT oped: Among many other recent developments not likely on anyone’s 2020 bingo card, a Supreme Court decision about foreign aid and legalized prostitution has shattered perceived constraints on the authority of the United States to robustly defend … Continue reading
Judge Luttig: The majority declined to grapple with Roberts’s prescient question whether there is a principled difference between a case where a person has financially influenced a judge and one where the biasing influence is nonfinancial. But the majority’s evident … Continue reading
NYT: The Texas case is one of at least eight major election disputes around the country in which Federal District Court judges sided with civil rights groups and Democrats in voting cases only to be stayed by the federal appeals … Continue reading
Joan Biskupic for CNN. … Continue reading
Jost on Justice: The recusal issue was one of at least five lines of questions from Democrats that gave Barrett easy options to pull herself away from Trump’s coattails. But she begged off on each one, by hiding behind the … Continue reading
NPR: The U.S. Supreme Court has granted the Trump administration’s request to speed up the appeal of a lower court ruling that is blocking the president’s attempt to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the census numbers used to reallocate seats in Congress.The move sets up … Continue reading
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NPR: Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois returned to voting rights questions during his portion of the morning on Wednesday by returning to a case Barrett handled on the appeals court. She wrote that a man involved who had been convicted … Continue reading
Watch: Barrett is asked if she believes a president should unequivocally commit to a peaceful transfer of power"To the extent that this is a political controversy right now, as a judge I want to stay out of it, and I … Continue reading
You can find the order here. … Continue reading
AP: The 48-year-old appellate court judge, nominated by President Donald Trump and on track for quick confirmation before the Nov. 3 election, also declined to commit to recusing herself from any cases arising from that election.“I can’t offer an opinion … Continue reading
From this ABC report: If Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed and seated by Nov. 3 or shortly after, she could participate in decisions about any election-related petitions. This week, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Barrett “made no commitment to … Continue reading
I’ve been quite critical of the Purcell Principle, most comprehensively in this piece, Reining in the Purcell Principle. Since I wrote that article, the Court has only made things worse. David Gans, in this careful ACS issue brief, brings this … Continue reading
Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow counting for the 2020 census to end soon.In an emergency request on Wednesday, Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall said that the Census Bureau must immediately wrap up … Continue reading
Pam Fessler for NPR: With so many cases still up in the air, legal experts say it’s difficult to tell whether Democrats or Republicans are coming out ahead. Democrats have won numerous victories — including fending off a Republican effort … Continue reading
This petition faces an uphill battle. Note the attempted distinction between “absentee” and “mail in” ballots and the attempt to argue around the Purcell principle. Note too that this does not come from state defendants objecting to the expansion of … Continue reading
He did not ask for a response. (I had thought there might be some interest at the Court in the issue presented there.) … Continue reading
Here’s the reply brief. Update: Here‘s the other reply brief. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for CNN Opinion. It begins: With coronavirus infections raging through the White House and the state of the President’s health unclear, it’s time to face up to an unsettling reality. We need to start thinking … Continue reading
I wrote earlier today at Slate about the important case coming out of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Here’s part of what I wrote: The final argument that Republicans are advancing is the boldest and perhaps most dangerous one. The argument … Continue reading
Ariane de Vogue for CNN. … Continue reading
You can find the order here. As I explained today in Slate, “In South Carolina, a federal district court held that a requirement that those voting by mail obtain a witness signature unconstitutionally burdened voters’ rights during the pandemic, given … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: While the nation’s attention has been focused on the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the ensuing questions surrounding that, it’s important to remember there will still be an election in one month. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for New York. It begins: When Judge Amy Coney Barrett sits for questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee in mid-October, no doubt Democrats will pepper her with questions about whether she would recuse herself in any Trump v. Biden election lawsuit to come … Continue reading
Richard Wolf for USA Today. … Continue reading
Amy Howe for SCOTUSBlog: The justices start their new term on Monday, at a time when the Supreme Court is at the center of a bitter battle over President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died … Continue reading
Victoria Nourse LAT oped hits the nail on the head about textualism: Many think that the appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court will jeopardize the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights. But the reach of her … Continue reading
David: In a string of unsigned, unexplained orders this summer, the Supreme Court has repeatedly shown that it will not protect the right to vote during an election year. The court has considered emergency motions in cases challenging voting or … Continue reading
News from today’s order list is no surprise. Here’s what I wrote back in January: “I strongly suspect that the Supreme Court will take this case, which reversed a lower court and a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel. A finding of … Continue reading
The brief relies heavily on the Purcell Principle. … Continue reading
Erwin Chemerinsky NYT oped. … Continue reading
Timely from History.com. … Continue reading
Motion to expedite. … Continue reading
The decision is here, and it presents a federal constitutional question about the qualifications of ballot circulators. At least in theory, this could be appealed to the Supreme Court. … Continue reading
Todd Ruger for Roll Call. … Continue reading
NYT: A Texas lawsuit over the mailing of absentee ballots to everyone over 65 but no one else. A Nevada case on whether to count mail ballots that lack postmarks. A Florida lawsuit over the right of former felons to … Continue reading
This development reported by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias is in line with my theory that PA is one of the two states to watch in terms of pre- and post-election litigation by the Trump campaign. Here’s how the Philly Inquirer … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an unparalleled champion of voting rights. One of her most famous dissents in a voting case came in Shelby County v. Holder, the 2013 Supreme Court case holding that … Continue reading
Within minutes of the announcement of Justice Ginsburg’s death, we started seeing the argument advanced that a Supreme Court confirmation needs to be rushed so that a Justice is in place before the election, so as to break a potential … Continue reading
NYT: Democrats have almost no power to stop a pre-election vote on President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, but they see a glimmer of hope in a bank-shot scenario if they capture a … Continue reading
Richard Wolf reports for USA Today. … Continue reading
Nina Totenberg: A 5-Decade-Long Friendship That Began With A Phone Call Joan Biskupic: 20 years of closed-door conversations with Ruth Bader Ginsburg … Continue reading
Exciting announcement: Twenty years ago this fall, a hotly contested presidential election led to 36 days of legal turmoil that culminated with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bush v. Gore. This year, as America prepares to vote during the coronavirus pandemic, the … Continue reading
The case is Davis v. Stapleton. Justice Kagan did not ask for a response on this one. This is the second Green Party case from Montana denied by Justice Kagan. … Continue reading
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