You can find the unusual cert. grant before judgment order here. Here is what I wrote when the government asked for this petition to be granted: “As for the merits, the plaintiffs should win given the strength of Judge Furman’s opinion. But … Continue reading
Category Archives: Supreme Court
DateAuthorPost Title02.11.19Justin LevittSymposium: Clarity of the record should bring clarity of purpose02.08.19Tyler GreenSymposium: 1 First Street, NE, Punxsutawney, PA02.07.19Guy-Uriel E. Charles and Luis E. Fuentes-RohwerSymposium: Precedent dictates a win for the plaintiffs in this term’s partisan-gerrymandering cases02.07.19Kaylan PhillipsSymposium: Much ado … Continue reading
Mike Parsons has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Partisan gerrymandering claims occupy a unique purgatory in constitutional law, floating between justiciable and nonjusticiable. This term, the Supreme Court will finally decide. The issue said to divide … Continue reading
On the third anniversary of Scalia's death, here's a piece I wrote for @Slate last year that is even truer today: Scalia’s legacy is stronger than ever: https://t.co/qCLYLPv7bt via @slate— Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) February 13, 2019 The @Slate piece on … Continue reading
You can find the initial entries here (I will update when there are more entries–I declined to participate in the symposium because like Justice Kennedy I remain uncertain about how these cases should be handled): Special Feature: Symposium before the … Continue reading
Detroit News: Michigan Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hit pause on a federal lawsuit alleging GOP gerrymandering, a move that could disrupt a settlement agreement announced Friday by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Benson’s deal with … Continue reading
And the Virginia racial gerrymandering case is on March 18. Michael Li: Just out: NC and MD partisan gerrymandering cases set for oral argument at SCOTUS on 3/26. #fairmaps #ncpol pic.twitter.com/BlkPcR4ima— Michael Li (@mcpli) January 25, 2019 … Continue reading
Open Secrets reports. … Continue reading
USLW: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the case of a former Democratic county commissioner from New York State who was acquitted of forging absentee ballots during a 2009 primary election. Edward G. McDonough says the special prosecutor … Continue reading
Tony Pugh for The Newsroom. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for The Atlantic. It begins: The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to take up partisan gerrymandering cases from North Carolina and Maryland brought to mind a saying attributed to Judy Garland: Behind every cloud is another cloud. … Continue reading
Here is the Court order. On what this means, see my tweet thread yesterday. And see The Next Threat to Redistricting Reform, Harvard Law Review Blog, Oct. 22, 2018 How Justice Kennedy’s Successor Will Wreak Havoc on Voting Rights and American … Continue reading
USLW reports. … Continue reading
Tweet thread from me, starts here: There's an excellent chance that tomorrow the Supreme Court will announce it will take up (again) the question whether partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. Don't take an agreement to hear case as a sign the … Continue reading
Amy Howe reports. … Continue reading
Montana Free Press: Thousands of newly uncovered documents and recently filed court records bolster already mounting evidence tying the anti-union National Right to Work Committee to the political activities of conservative nonprofit groups accused of improperly coordinating Republican legislative primary … Continue reading
Cert. petition in Kesari v. U.S., awaiting a response from the SG’s office. This question of disclosing the ultimate recipient of campaign money could have relevance to the Trump hush money payments issue and other issues as well. … Continue reading
Bertrall Ross has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming Columbia Law Review). Here is the abstract: The most recent call for judicial intervention into state partisan gerrymandering practices ran aground on the shoals of standing doctrine in Gill v. Whitford. The … Continue reading
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Republican leaders in the Virginia House of Delegates have formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block a lower court’s efforts to redraw the House map for the 2019 elections. In a court filing released … Continue reading
So predicts key Court watcher John Elwood: My instinct is Court won't act before 1/4 conference. I suspect they'll reschedule until late January, so argument would come next fall. I doubt John Roberts wants to revisit an issue that flummoxed … Continue reading
With no noted dissent, the Supreme Court has turned down a cert. petition in the Zimmerman campaign finance case from Austin Texas. I flagged this case (along with a Montana case that the Court will consider taking up in January) … Continue reading
Ariane de Vogue for CNN. … Continue reading
Lyle Denniston: Arguing that a state should not have to re-draw its congressional districts twice in a short time span, Maryland officials asked the Supreme Court on Monday to rule that the existing map can be used again in 2020 … Continue reading
According to the docket. It could also be when the Court considers whether to take the Austin campaign finance case. As I wrote in Slate back in September: As Common Cause’s Steve Spaulding notes, “Kavanaugh himself acknowledges in the docs that he’s … Continue reading
NLJ: When asked if, in the wake of the huge influx of money into elections, he had any regrets about his majority opinion in Citizens United v. FEC, he said the decision “stands for itself.” “It’s true there’s a problem with … Continue reading
In interview with Adam Liptak: The court’s “second-biggest error,” Justice Stevens said, was the Citizens United campaign finance decision. “Money in politics — it’s hard to believe the extent of it,” he said. The third-biggest mistake, he said, was Bush v. Gore, … Continue reading
Here is the minor party brief. Here is the Lee/Cruz brief. My earlier coverage is here, where I suggest this would be a very interesting case for the Court to hear. … Continue reading
Amanda Frost at SCOTUSBlog: Common sense tells us that increased political polarization affects the U.S. Supreme Court as well as the political branches, and now legal scholars have the data to prove it. In a forthcoming paper, “Polarization and the … Continue reading
From today’s order list: APPEAL — JURISDICTION POSTPONED 18-281 VA HOUSE OF DELEGATES, ET AL. V. GOLDEN BETHUNE-HILL, ET AL. Further consideration of the question of jurisdiction is postponed to the hearing of the case on the merits. In addition … Continue reading
Interesting read. … Continue reading
The judges considered two First Amendment-based theories: all three joined in one of the theories, and two in the other. This will go on direct appeal to the Supreme Court, in a case with an opinion written by a well … Continue reading
Read it here. … Continue reading
You can find the document here. I believe it is almost certain the Court will set the case for argument (and I think chances of an affirmance are low with Justice Kavanaugh now on the Court, but we will see). … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Faced with the latest flurry of hardball Republican tactics on voting issues this election cycle, Democrats are grappling with the reality of an opposition that now seems determined to cement long-term minority rule. … Continue reading
SCOTUS declines this a.m. to hear Pennsylvania Republicans’ appeal of state court ruling ordering new congressional map. https://t.co/6txxfNrGvz #fairmaps 1/ pic.twitter.com/Nd8gOAZKZx — Michael Li (@mcpli) October 29, 2018 I expect this issue to be back before the Supreme Court soon … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: The Supreme Court gave the federal government a partial victory tonight in a dispute over discovery in the challenge to the government’s decision to reinstate a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Without any publicly recorded objections, the … Continue reading
I have written this piece for the Harvard Law Review Blog. It begins: These are perilous times even for those who think that federal courts have no business messing with how state legislatures draw lines for legislative and congressional districts … Continue reading
Kimberly Robinson for Bloomberg Law. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: It’s a great time for liberals to brush up on their knowledge of originalism and textualism. These judicial theories, which say that judges should interpret constitutional provisions or statutes by looking solely … Continue reading
Updated version of the paper out in May in the Annual Review of Political Science. Abstract: The period of increased polarization in the United States among the political branches and citizenry affects the selection, work, perception, and relative power of state … Continue reading
Princeton Program in Law and Public Affairs: The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption Rick Hasen, University of California, Irvine School of Law Facebook Twitter Date: Fri, 11/09/2018 – 12:00pm Location: Robertson Hall, Bowl 16 Audience: Princeton … Continue reading
Adam Liptak captures the peril for the Court: For President Trump and for Senate Republicans, confirming Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice was a hard-won political victory. But for the conservative legal movement, it is a signal … Continue reading
Politico: The Supreme Court is passing up, for now, the Trump administration’s request to block Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from having to give testimony in lawsuits challenging the addition of a question on citizenship to the 2020 U.S. census. Justice … Continue reading
Roll Call: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denounced the “millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups” during his testimony Thursday about sexual assault allegations, but he didn’t mention the millions spent by groups backing him. The Judicial … Continue reading
George Thomas WaPo oped: As the FBI conducts its investigations into the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, just about everyone has been distracted from questions about his legal philosophy. But let’s not forget, as Justice Neil M. … Continue reading
Adam Liptak for the NYT: The current docket may appear a little sleepy. But additional cases could change that. Before the new term ends next June, the court may hear cases on partisan gerrymandering, whether a federal employment discrimination law … Continue reading
Release: On September 27, the Native American Rights Fund(NARF), on behalf of its clients, a group of Native American voters in North Dakota, filed an emergency appeal to the United States Supreme Court. They are asking the court to stay a … Continue reading
Pema Levy for Mother Jones. … Continue reading
Adam in the NYT: His performance on Thursday, responding to accusations of sexual misconduct at a hearing of the same Senate committee, sent a different message. Judge Kavanaugh was angry and emotional, embracing the language of slashing partisanship. His demeanor … Continue reading
In my post about the Supreme Court’s denial of a stay in the Crossroads campaign disclosure case, I wrote that it “does not solve all of the current disclosure problems, but this is a victory for transparency.” I stand by … Continue reading