Category Archives: Supreme Court

Pennsylvania Dispute Over Provisional Ballots (after Flawed Mailed Ballots) Reaches U.S. Supreme Court on Emergency Docket

October 28, 2024, 2:50 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Docket. RNC filing raising “independent state legislature theory” and trying to apply Purcell to state courts. It asks for a sequestration of ballots in the alternative. Response due Wednesday. My earlier coverage.

“105. The Supreme Court and the 2024 Election, Part I”

October 28, 2024, 7:00 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Steve Vladeck on emergency election litigation at, or almost at, SCOTUS: RFK ballot access, PA provisional ballots, VA voter purge. He also says this about the 5th Circuit Mississippi ruling: And then there’s the Fifth Circuit—which, in a case out… Continue reading

Republicans Plan to Go to U.S. Supreme Court Raising Independent State Legislature Theory to Seek to Block Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ruling Requiring Counting of Certain Provisional Ballots

October 25, 2024, 11:47 amabsentee ballots, legislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Are we about to see the Supreme Court weigh back into the application of the independent state legislature theory? Back on Wednesday, I wrote about a divided ruling of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that required the counting of provisional ballots… Continue reading

Divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court, In Case Involving Mail-In and Provisional Ballots, Tees Up Potential Independent State Legislature Theory for U.S. Supreme Court

October 23, 2024, 3:27 pmelection administration, provisional ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Genser v. Butler County Board of Elections involves a very particular issue under Pennsylvania law, but it raises a potentially larger one that could make it to the Supreme Court. To simplify just a bit: voters send in their mail-in… Continue reading

“A Writer Sees Leniency in the Supreme Court’s Approach to Public Corruption”

October 21, 2024, 11:01 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak NYT column: Eight years ago, before revelations about luxury travel and gifts accepted by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., the Supreme Court considered the case of a politician who had been prosecuted for… Continue reading

“Disrupting Election Day: Reconsidering the Purcell Principle as a Federalism Doctrine”

October 21, 2024, 10:59 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Casey Schmidt has written this student note for the Virginia Law Review. Here is the abstract: The Purcell Principle—the doctrine that courts should refrain from changing election rules during the period of time close to an election—has long been misconstrued.… Continue reading

Justice Gorsuch’s Fishy Story

October 15, 2024, 1:00 pmchicanery, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Quite the flaying (fileting?) from Anush Khardori of Politico Magazine: It does not take long — the first chapter — before Gorsuch misleads the reader in Over Ruled. He is discussing the case of John Yates, a commercial fisherman who… Continue reading

“Why the Supreme Court May Not Decide the 2024 Election After All”

October 10, 2024, 8:39 amSupreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Some have speculated that the Supreme Court has kept its fall schedule light in case it decides to take up litigation that could affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential… Continue reading

“Why the Supreme Court Might Cast the Final Vote for President”

October 10, 2024, 7:16 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Aziz Huq for Politico: Three paths already exist for the Supreme Court if it wants to reshape the 2024 outcome. The first path lies through a challenge to a state court’s ruling on state election law. The Supreme Court ordinarily… Continue reading

“The Untold Link Between Justice Alito and Trump’s Election Denying Efforts; Mark Martin floated fringe theories to keep Trump in power. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito taught with him — even after January 6.”

October 6, 2024, 12:54 pmelection subversion risk, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Shawn Musgrave for The Intercept: On the evening of January 6, 2021, retired North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin had a nine-minute conversation with former President Donald Trump. This call followed weeks of efforts by Martin to find … Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “Jack Smith’s Big New Jan. 6 Brief Is a Major Indictment of the Supreme Court”

October 2, 2024, 2:48 pmelection subversion risk, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: It’s rare to simultaneously feel red hot anger and wistfulness, especially when merely reading a document. But that’s exactly the emotions that washed over me when I read the redacted version… Continue reading

“How the US Supreme Court could get involved in the 2024 presidential election”

October 2, 2024, 6:50 amSupreme Court, UncategorizedRick Hasen

ABC News: The U.S. Supreme Court, faced with sagging public confidence and a deepening perception its decisions are politically-motivated, could soon play a critical role in how some 2024 presidential ballots are cast and counted and, potentially, how contested election… Continue reading

“ACLU asks U.S. Supreme Court to take up challenge to Pennsylvania’s mail ballot dating rule”

September 27, 2024, 5:22 pmabsentee ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Votebeat: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether requiring voters to date their mail ballot return envelopes violates federal law. The group filed its petition Friday on behalf of the Pennsylvania… Continue reading

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Won’t Be on New York Ballot, Supreme Court Rules”

September 27, 2024, 2:07 pmballot access, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT: The Supreme Court said on Friday that it would not restore Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the ballot in New York after a state court judge ruled that he had used a sham address on his nominating petition. The… Continue reading