Category Archives: Supreme Court

Supreme Court Asks For Responses in Texas Bonkers Lawsuit By Tomorrow; Trump Tweets He Will Intervene. This Will All Amount to Nothing

December 9, 2020, 8:08 amfraudulent fraud squad, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Here’s the docket. [corrected link] Trump tweeted that he’s intervened and sought to distance himself from the unanimous loss at the Supreme Court yesterday by Rep. Kelly. I explained here and to the NY Times why the Texas… Continue reading

“Supreme Court Rejects Republican Challenge to Pennsylvania Vote”

December 8, 2020, 8:25 pmchicanery, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak for the NYT: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused a long-shot request from Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in the state, delivering an unmistakable rebuke to President Trump in the forum on which he… Continue reading

Breaking: Without Noted Dissent, Supreme Court Denies Relief in Rep. Kelly PA Voting Case That Sought to Disenfranchise State’s Voters (This is The One I Said Had the Dumbest SCOTUS Argument I’ve Ever Seen)

December 8, 2020, 1:44 pmfraudulent fraud squad, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Justice Alito referred it to the whole Court. Earlier: Perhaps the Dumbest Argument Ever Made in Emergency Petition to the Supreme Court Appears in Pennsylvania Election Case Anyone who thought that the Supreme Court was going to save Trump in… Continue reading

Texas Asks Supreme Court for Permission to Sue Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin Over How They Conducted the Election, To Disenfranchise Voters in These States and Let State Legislators Choose Electors. It Won’t Work

December 8, 2020, 7:25 amfraudulent fraud squad, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I may need to take back what I said about Rep. Kelly’s PA suit being the dumbest case I’ve ever seen filed on an emergency basis at the Supreme Court. This new one from the indicted Texas AG Ken Paxton… Continue reading

Pennsylvania Files Its Opposition in Supreme Court in Rep. Kelly Case, Teeing Up Order from J. Alito or Court Likely Today

December 8, 2020, 7:11 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

You can find the brief here. It begins: Petitioners ask this Court to undertake one of the most dramatic, disruptiveinvocations of judicial power in the history of the Republic. No court has ever issued an order nullifying a governor’s… Continue reading

Super Interesting: In Rep. Kelly’s Case Seeking to Overturn PA Results for President, Brief from PA Republican Party Does NOT Support Argument Election Should Be Overturned

December 7, 2020, 8:41 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

This brief is so interesting. It does not even address the main argument made in Rep. Kelly’s brief that the PA Legislature acted unconstitutionally in passing its absentee voting law. I’ve explained it’s a nonsense argument, but it’s the… Continue reading

Carter Phillips and Bipartisan Group of Heavy Hitters (including Sen. Danforth) File Supreme Court Brief Rejecting Bush v. Gore Concurrence/Independent State Legislature Doctrine in PA case

December 7, 2020, 11:32 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

This brief will get attention at the Court. See especially the discussion at pages 9-11.

Justice Alito Has Moved Up the Response Time to the Rep. Kelly PA Election Petition to the Morning of Safe Harbor Day: What Does It Mean?

December 6, 2020, 8:14 amabsentee ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Via Bob Barnes, comes news that Justice Alito had moved the date for the response to Rep. Kelly’s request for emergency relief from Dec. 9 to Dec. 8. I had noted in an earlier post that Justice Alito had… Continue reading

Trump Administration Files Supreme Court Brief Urging It To Hear Case That Could Weaken Campaign Finance Disclosure Rules

December 5, 2020, 1:16 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The Court had invited the views of the Solicitor General about whether or not it should take the case, and now the office has filed this brief. It would not surprise me to see the Biden Administration taking a… Continue reading

As Path to Overturn Pennsylvania Election Results Closes Completely, Trump Campaign Apparently Abandons Seeking Supreme Court Emergency Relief in Third Circuit Case

December 4, 2020, 8:34 amfraudulent fraud squad, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Philadelphia Inquirer: If its fate had not been abundantly clear already, President Donald Trump’s dream of having Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled legislature overturn the state’s election results received what appeared to be its final death blows Thursday with a late-night order… Continue reading

Justice Alito Slow-Walks Rep. Kelly’s Pennsylvania Emergency Petition, Requiring a Response from the State on Dec. 9, After the Safe Harbor Deadline: What Does It All Mean?

December 3, 2020, 8:22 pmelectoral college, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Although it is not yet reflected on the docket, Justice Alito has reportedly set a deadline of December 9 for the state of PA to respond to Rep. Kelly’s petition seeking to nullify the vote in Pennsylvania (a petition… Continue reading

Rep. Kelly Has Apparently Withdrawn His Emergency Request for a SCOTUS Injunction to Reverse Pennsylvania Results, As He Awaits PA Supreme Court Ruling on Stay

December 2, 2020, 8:30 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

From the opposition to the stay request filed in the PA Supreme Court: Once again, Petitioners are asking the courts to take expedited action in response to an emergency of Petitioners’ own making. This Court dismissed the Petition for Review… Continue reading

Unanimous 4th Circuit Panel Applies “Presumption of Good Faith” in Upholding 2018 North Carolina Voter ID Law, Despite Finding That 2013 Voter ID Law Was Passed with Racially Discriminatory Intent

December 2, 2020, 9:22 amSupreme Court, voter idRick Hasen

You can find the 29-page opinion at this link (via WRAL). The opinion leans heavily on the Supreme Court’s use of a presumption of legislative good faith in Abbott, despite an earlier history of racially discriminatory conduct. I recently wrote… Continue reading

“Federal Court Review of State Court Interpretations of State Laws that Regulate Federal Elections: Debunking the ‘Independent State Legislature’ Notion Once and for all, and Keeping Federal Judges to Their Important but Limited Lanes”

December 1, 2020, 9:58 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Vik Amar has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the weeks leading up to and following Election Day 2020, Republican litigants, taking cues from a minority group of Justices, asked federal courts to undo state election… Continue reading

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