Category Archives: Supreme Court
Remember “American/Western Tradition Partnership” Involved in Montana Elections in Case that Went to SCOTUS? Looks Like the National Right to Work Committee Was Secretly Behind It, Violating Montana Campaign Finance Laws
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… Continue reading
Interesting Petition at Supreme Court Raises Question Whether Campaign Finance Report Must List Ultimate Recipient of Campaign Money (in This Case, an Iowa State Senator Secretly Paid to Switch Endorsement to Ron Paul)
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.
“Partisan Gerrymandering, the First Amendment, and the Political Outsider”
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.… Continue reading
“Va. House GOP asks U.S. Supreme Court to stop new electoral map”
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… Continue reading
Supreme Court Might Not Hear North Carolina Partisan Gerrymandering Case Until Next Term, Meaning Possible Decision in June 2020, and Potentially Leaving NC Districts in Place for 2020 Elections and Perhaps Rendering Case Moot
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
Breaking: Supreme Court Declines to Hear Austin, Texas Low Campaign Contributions Case, Takes No Action on North Carolina Gerrymandering Petition
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
“Supreme Court discussing partisan gerrymandering behind closed doors Friday”
Ariane de Vogue for CNN.
Maryland: “New partisan gerrymander case reaches Justices”
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… Continue reading
Supreme Court Will Consider Whether to Take Major Montana Campaign Contributions Case at Its January 4 Conference, A Case Which Could Pave the Way for Killing Federal Campaign Contribution Limits
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… Continue reading
Justice Kennedy Stands By the Correctness of His Citizens United Opinion
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… Continue reading
Justice Stevens Tags Citizens United, Bush v. Gore as Two of Three “Grave Errors” of Supreme Court During His Time There
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 … Continue reading
Coalition of Minor Parties, Idaho Republican Party File Amicus Brief Supporting Cert. Grant in Utah Political Party Rights Case; Senators Lee and Cruz, Reps. Labrador and Bishop File Another
Amanda Frost Comments on My Forthcoming “Polarization and the Judiciary” Paper
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 … Continue reading