Category Archives: Supreme Court

“The Supreme Pressure Campaign: Trump Attorneys Gamed Out Which Supreme Court Justices Might Help Them Steal the Election”

February 14, 2024, 7:26 amelection subversion risk, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

TPM: Donnald Trump’s attorneys in 2020 thought that they had one advantage which nobody — not the Democrats, not lower-court judges, not Congress — could outmatch: the Supreme Court. At their most feverish, attorneys for Trump believed that the Supreme… Continue reading

ELB Book Corner: Ann Southworth: “$peech”

February 14, 2024, 5:35 amcampaign finance, ELB Book Corner, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I am pleased to welcome Ann Southworth to the ELB Book Corner, author of the new book, Big Money Unleashed: The Campaign to Deregulate Election Spending (Chicago). The discount code for ELB readers is BIGMONEY2023. This is the first… Continue reading

“The US supreme court may turn this election into a constitutional crisis”

February 14, 2024, 5:34 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Sidney Blumenthal for The Guardian: Imagine it is 6 January 2025. The bell tolls for the day of electoral college certification again. All the events of 2024 converge: The US supreme court’s likely ruling in Trump v Anderson denying Colorado’s… Continue reading

“The Case for Removing Trump From the Ballot Has a Fatal Originalist Flaw”

February 13, 2024, 2:17 pmballot access, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Brook Thomas in Slate: Oral arguments in the Supreme Court for Donald Trump v. Norma Anderson last week exposed a historical issue that none of the excellent amicus briefs by historians anticipated. Briefs led by Jill Lepore and Vernon Burton convincingly show that the framers of Section… Continue reading

“Why a Supreme Court easy out in Trump ballot battle could lead to post-election chaos”

February 13, 2024, 12:06 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

John Fritze and Marshall Cohen for CNN: When it comes to deciding whether former President Donald Trump should be booted from Colorado’s ballot, the easiest path the Supreme Court could take now may wind up causing the most… Continue reading

Danforth, Luttig et. al SCOTUS Amicus Brief Stresses the Risk of Presidential Immunity for President Accused of Election Subversion

February 13, 2024, 12:01 pmelection subversion risk, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

From the excellent just-filed brief: Here, one dispositive basis that fully sustains the judgment of the D.C. Circuit is that a President does not have immunity to engage in federal statutory crimes to subvert presidential election results and prevent the… Continue reading

“Trump Asks Supreme Court to Pause Ruling Denying Him Absolute Immunity”

February 13, 2024, 7:04 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT: Former President Donald J. Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to pause an appeals court’s ruling rejecting his claim that he is absolutely immune from criminal charges based on his attempts to subvert the 2020 election. Unless the… Continue reading

“The Supreme Court and the Risks of January 6, 2025”

February 9, 2024, 8:27 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Jeannie Suk Gersen: The election-law experts Edward Foley, Benjamin Ginsberg, and Richard Hasen warned, in an amicus brief, that if the Justices resolve the case without “deciding the merits of the disqualification question,” it “would not reflect an admirable judicial… Continue reading

“A Ruling for Trump on Eligibility Could Doom His Bid for Immunity”

February 8, 2024, 3:58 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak for the NYT: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and his colleagues seemed ready on Thursday to start to rebuild the court’s reputation by presenting themselves as unified and apolitical. He has had a bumpy ride of late,… Continue reading

Did Justice Gorsuch, Ever So Subtly Suggest He Thinks That Donald Trump is “the President” and Not “the Former President?” (Update: Probably NOT!)

February 8, 2024, 2:11 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

A careful listener pointed to to the exchange in the oral argument at around 2:30-31 on the audio. It’s not clear where the emphasis is from the transcript on the words “in your view,” but it sure sounded from the… Continue reading

Rick Hasen Live Blog of Oral Arguments in Trump Disqualification Case at Supreme Court (Updates Complete)

February 8, 2024, 6:33 amballot access, election subversion risk, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

[This live blog is concluded. Stand by for thoughts on the argument.] Today the Supreme Court hears oral argument in Trump v. Anderson. The first thing I’ll be listening for is whether Trump’s lawyer gets any traction with the hyper-technical… Continue reading

“Losing legitimacy: The challenges of the Dobbs ruling to conventional legitimacy theory”

February 7, 2024, 12:22 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Jim Gibson in AJPS. Abstract: Extant research has established that displeasure with a Supreme Court ruling typically has negligible consequences for institutional support, largely because, as legitimacy theory’s positivity bias explains, judicial decisions are invariably delivered with the accoutrements of… Continue reading

I Will Be Live-Blogging Thursday’s Oral Arguments in Trump Disqualification Case at Election Law Blog, as Well as Providing Commentary on NPR’s Special Coverage

February 7, 2024, 11:43 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Readers will have to refresh the link I will post to get my comments on the case. I should be on NPR before and perhaps after the oral arguments start. And I’m tentatively set for some television appearances tomorrow as… Continue reading

My New one at Slate: “Donald Trump Is Asking the Supreme Court for the Bush v. Gore Treatment”

February 7, 2024, 7:24 amballot access, election subversion risk, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I have written this article for Slate. It begins: The Supreme Court will soon be under the microscope like it hasn’t been since it ended the disputed 2000 U.S. presidential election in Bush v. Gore, as it considers not… Continue reading