Category Archives: Supreme Court

United States Files Letter in Supreme Court Saying that Moore v. Harper Should Be Dismissed as Moot (This is the “Independent State Legislature” Case)

May 11, 2023, 9:45 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Brief for United States. Update: Common Cause takes the position the case is not moot and the Supreme Court can still decide it. It adds: “Although the Court has pending before it another petition for certiorari raising a similar question… Continue reading

Justice Souter Fought to Avoid Applying “Exacting Scrutiny” to Contribution Limits in McConnell Case

May 10, 2023, 7:40 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Jimmy Hoover for the National Law Journal, examining the Stevens papers: Among the many insights from Stevens’ papers are the once-private internal court memos in which justices offer suggestions or critiques of each other’s draft opinions in particular cases. The… Continue reading

Richard Bernstein: Time to Unanimously Dismiss Moore v. Harper on Jurisdictional Grounds

May 7, 2023, 6:23 pmlegislation and legislatures, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Richard Bernstein, who wrote an amicus brief supporting affirmance in Moore v. Harper but who expresses his own views here: Whatever your view of the Elections Clause issues in Moore v. Harper, the… Continue reading

More Moore

May 4, 2023, 8:54 pmelection law and constitutional law, redistricting, Supreme CourtJustin Levitt

The Court has asked for another round of briefing on what the heck should happen in Moore v. Harper, the current vehicle for the “independent state legislature” challenge, now that the North Carolina Supreme Court has said that the… Continue reading

“Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni’”

May 4, 2023, 8:51 pmethics investigations, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActJustin Levitt

WaPo reports: Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left… Continue reading

“Senate panel explores ethics standards for US Supreme Court as questions swirl”

May 2, 2023, 4:05 pmethics investigations, Supreme CourtJustin Levitt

Reuters on the Judiciary Committee’s hearing today.

“Independent State Legislature” Theory, North Carolina, and Ohio

May 1, 2023, 7:43 pmelection law and constitutional law, Elections Clause, legislation and legislatures, redistricting, Supreme CourtJustin Levitt

Vik Amar and Jason Mazzone suggest that the Court grant cert. pronto in Huffman v. Neiman, the Ohio partisan gerrymandering case, as it considers whatever just happened in North Carolina. Rick had similar thoughts.

“The Judges Have Too Much Power”

May 1, 2023, 7:38 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtJustin Levitt

Molly Coleman with a bunch of suggestions for Congress that probably sounded like good ideas to various Court-watchers with very different political orientations in different eras, trying to impose the “passive virtues.” I’d add shadow docket reform, particularly in the… Continue reading

“How Scalia Law School Became a Key Friend of the Court”

May 1, 2023, 7:34 amacademic freedom, ethics investigations, Supreme CourtJustin Levitt

The NYT reports on the relationship between the school and several Justices.

Updated: In Ruling with Major Political Implications that Potentially Moots U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Moore v. Harper Independent State Legislature Case, North Carolina Supreme Court, on 5-2 Partisan Vote, Holds Partisan Gerrymandering Claims Cannot Be Brought Under State Constitution

April 28, 2023, 10:09 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

[This post has been updated] In a 5-2 decision along partisan lines, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that it cannot consider partisan gerrymandering claims under the state constitution. This ruling overturns an earlier ruling of the state supreme… Continue reading

What happens to Moore v. Harper after the latest North Carolina Supreme Court decision in the partisan gerrymandering case?

April 28, 2023, 10:04 amredistricting, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

What a mess. Rick H. links to the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in the partisan gerrymandering cases. The congressional piece of that is in front of the United States Supreme Court right now. Earlier, I blogged about how “mootness”… Continue reading

“After the Oral Argument in Moore v. Harper”

April 26, 2023, 12:15 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Michael Weingartner & Carolyn Shapiro have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, U. Toledo L. Rev.). here is the abstract: The debate over the so-called independent state legislature theory (“ISLT”) is evolving. Some proponents of the theory have proposed a… Continue reading

Paul Clement leads cert petition in Mazo v. New Jersey Secretary of State on ballot speech issue

April 26, 2023, 11:50 amballot access, First Amendment theory, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

Late last year here at ELB, I highlighted the Third Circuit’s decision in Mazo v. New Jersey Secretary of State. (Disclosure: I filed an amicus brief in that case.) Check out that post for more on the background. Paul… Continue reading

“Supreme Court to decide if First Amendment stops government officials from blocking social media critics”

April 24, 2023, 7:27 amcheap speech, First Amendment theory, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Tierney Sneed for CNN: The Supreme Court said Monday that it will consider whether the First Amendment protects social media users from being blocked from commenting on the personal pages that government officials use to communicate actions related to their… Continue reading

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