Category Archives: Supreme Court

“Confusion Shrouds High Court Election Case With 2024 on Horizon”

March 7, 2023, 7:15 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson for Bloomberg Law: The US Supreme Court’s surprise decision to seek additional briefing in a North Carolina voting case could push an open question on the role of state officials in setting federal election rules into 2024.… Continue reading

“Final judgment,” not mootness, at issue in latest Moore v. Harper twist

March 2, 2023, 2:47 pmElections Clause, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

Rick H. links to the Supreme Court’s order in Moore v. Harper requesting more briefing. According to the Supreme Court’s docket, no party has raised the fact of the rehearing scheduled in the North Carolina Supreme Court, which has… Continue reading

“How a Supreme Court justice’s paragraph put the Voting Rights Act in more danger”

February 26, 2023, 8:23 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: The roots of the next potential U.S. Supreme Court showdown that could further weaken the Voting Rights Act’s protections against racial discrimination can be traced to a handful of sentences by Justice Neil Gorsuch.… Continue reading

“Mississippi Racial Gerrymandering Case Dismissed in U.S. Supreme Court”

February 22, 2023, 7:57 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Mississippi Free Press: The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear Buck v. Reeves, a case alleging that the state’s congressional maps are racially gerrymandered. The decision affirms that Mississippi is no longer required to get federal preclearance for… Continue reading

#ELB20th: Ellen Katz: Don’t Change A Thing?

February 21, 2023, 7:43 am#ELB20th, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Ellen Katz, part of the #ELB20th Anniversary retrospective: Don’t Change A Thing? I found myself humming this early 80s INXS song shortly after receiving Rick’s kind invitation to post something marking the… Continue reading

Why Haven’t the Parties in Moore v. Harper (At Least Publicly) Alerted the Supreme Court That The Case May Be Mooted by the North Carolina Supreme Court?

February 16, 2023, 2:38 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

With news today that the Supreme Court cancelled oral argument in the Title 42 case on immigration after the Biden DOJ informed the Court that the Title 42 policy will end in a few months with the end of the… Continue reading

#ELB20th: 20 Years of the Election Law Blog, and 20 Years of American Democracy’s Slow (and Faster) Deterioration: A Call for Vigilance and Resilience

February 15, 2023, 6:47 am#ELB20th, Supreme Court, theoryRick Hasen

Twenty years ago this month, I began the Election Law Blog. It was a continuation of sorts of news and commentary that I had been sharing with election law professors, first via a listserv Dan Lowenstein and I created that… Continue reading

North Carolina Supreme Court Schedules March 14 Oral Argument in Rehearing in Harper, the Partisan Gerrymandering Case that Could Moot Moore v. Harper (the Independent State Legislature Case) at SCOTUS

February 10, 2023, 10:09 amlegislation and legislatures, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Here is the order. That gives plenty of time for the North Carolina Supreme Court to do what I expect, which is to reverse the earlier holding that partisan gerrymandering violates the North Carolina constitution, before the Supreme Court… Continue reading

My New Paper: “Nonprofit Law as the Tool to Kill What Remains of Campaign Finance Law: Reluctant Lessons from Ellen Aprill”

February 9, 2023, 11:52 amcampaign finance, Supreme Court, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

I have written this draft for a festschrift symposium issue of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review honoring my dear friend, Loyola Law School professor Ellen Aprill. Here is the abstract: This brief Essay was prepared for a… Continue reading

A practical reason for the North Carolina Supreme Court to expedite rehearing of its partisan gerrymandering decision

February 6, 2023, 10:35 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

I appreciate Rick H.’s perspective on the issue of potential mootness in Moore v. Harper. Indeed, I think if the North Carolina Supreme Court reverses its partisan gerrymandering decision, it’s hard to think that even a malleable doctrine like “capable… Continue reading

My New one @Slate: “Unfortunately, the Biggest Election Case of the Supreme Court Term Could Be Moot”

February 6, 2023, 7:36 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Will a power grab by the new Republican majority on North Carolina’s Supreme Court—ostensibly to reverse a power grab by the earlier Democratic majority on North Carolina’s Supreme Court—deprive conservatives on… Continue reading

Breaking: North Carolina Supreme Court Grants Rehearing in Case Striking Down Congressional Districts as a Partisan Gerrymander, Potentially Mooting U.S. Supreme Court’s Independent State Legislature Case, Moore v. Harper

February 3, 2023, 3:46 pmjudicial elections, legislation and legislatures, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

On a 5-2 vote along party lines, the North Carolina Supreme Court has granted rehearing to reconsider its decision striking the state’s congressional districts as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders under the state constitution. It is also considering the state districts as… Continue reading

With Petition for Rehearing Filed in (Republican-Majority) North Carolina Supreme Court, Could SCOTUS Decision in Moore v. Harper Become Moot?

January 26, 2023, 5:22 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Back on November 9, I wrote: Could the Flipping of the North Carolina Supreme Court to Republican Control Moot the Moore v. Harper Case about the Independent State Legislature Doctrine? With news that the North Carolina Supreme Court has flipped… Continue reading

“Three-Judge District Courts, Direct Appeals, and Reforming the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket”

January 25, 2023, 8:02 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Michael Solimine has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Indiana Law Journal Supplement). Here is the abstract: The “shadow docket” is the term recently given to a long-standing practice of the United States Supreme Court, in granting or denying requests… Continue reading