Category Archives: Supreme Court

“Originalism, Election Law, and Democratic Self-Government”

February 4, 2025, 8:33 amSupreme Court, theoryRick Hasen

Joshua Sellers has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Florida Law Review). Here is the abstract: Originalism has a democracy problem. Among prevailing theories of constitutional interpretation–pragmatism, common-law constitutionalism, popular constitutionalism, and Elysian representation-reinforcement–originalism uniquely creates a legal environment in… Continue reading

Watch Archived Video of Safeguarding Democracy Project Conversation with Amy Gardner, Pam Karlan, and Stephen Richer on What To Expect with Voting and Elections over the Next Four Years

January 30, 2025, 4:49 pmchicanery, election administration, election subversion risk, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I learned a ton from this excellent discussion. Watch:

“Cruel and unusual? Supreme Court declines to review Mississippi voting ban for convicted felons”

January 27, 2025, 7:29 amfelon voting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

USA Today: The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide whether a permanent voting ban on people convicted of felonies in Mississippi is cruel and unusual punishment. The court, in 2023, had also rejected a different challenge to the state’s voting… Continue reading

Supreme Court Turns Down Two Major Election Law Cases, One on Independent State Legislature Theory

January 21, 2025, 7:39 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

The Supreme Court passed up its best opportunity to give greater content to the independent state legislature theory outside the context of a hot presidential election, in a case out of Montana. It is somewhat surprising that the Court did… Continue reading

My Review of “The ‘Stench’ of Politics: Polarization and Worldview on the Supreme Court”

January 14, 2025, 4:25 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

I have written this book review for Political Science Quarterly, reviewing The “Stench” of Politics: Polarization and Worldview on the Supreme Court by Joseph Russomanno. It begins: After the disputed 2000 election that culminated in the Supreme Court’s opinion… Continue reading

“Fifteen Years Later, Citizens United Defined the 2024 Election”

January 14, 2025, 10:10 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

New analysis from the Brennan Center.

Supreme Court Rejects Racial Gerrymandering Claim Out of North Dakota Redistricting

January 13, 2025, 7:12 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Michael Li explains:

“How a Phone Call Drew Alito Into a Trump Loyalty Squabble”

January 10, 2025, 7:25 amconflict of interest laws, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT: The circumstances were extraordinary for another reason: Justice Alito was being drawn into a highly personalized effort by some Trump aides to blackball Republicans deemed insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump from entering the administration, according to six people with… Continue reading

Supreme Court, on 5-4 Vote, Will Not Stop Sentencing of Donald Trump Tomorrow (on Charges for Which the Judge Will Not Impose Jail Time)

January 9, 2025, 4:37 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Here is the order in full: 24A666 TRUMP, DONALD J. V. NEW YORK, ET AL. The application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons. First, the… Continue reading

“TikTok Case Before Supreme Court Pits National Security Against Free Speech”

January 9, 2025, 4:10 pmcheap speech, First Amendment theory, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT: When the Supreme Court hears arguments on Friday over whether protecting national security requires TikTok to be sold or closed, the justices will be working in the shadow of three First Amendment precedents, all influenced by the climate of… Continue reading

“Roberts Calls Court’s Relationship With Congress ‘Strained.’ Who’s to Blame?”

January 3, 2025, 3:41 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Jimmy Hoover for the NLJ. I offered some thoughts in this one: Many commentators say that a similar dynamic is responsible for today’s partisan rancor in light of the Supreme Court’s now solidly 6-3 supermajority of Republican appointees. “The Supreme… Continue reading

Biden DOJ Asks SCOTUS for Chance to Give Up Defense of Laws Limiting Political Parties from Becoming Conduits for Large Campaign Contributions; Trump DOJ Will File Instead

January 2, 2025, 1:01 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

See this letter from the Solicitor General requesting an extension of time into the Trump Administration to file a response to the cert. petition in the NRSC case. Here is what I wrote in an earlier post on this case… Continue reading

“Chief Justice Roberts Condemns Threats to Judicial Independence”

December 31, 2024, 4:28 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT: Judicial independence is under grave threat on several fronts, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote on Tuesday in an unusually urgent and somber year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary. “Violence, intimidation and defiance directed at… Continue reading

“State Law and Federal Elections After Moore v. Harper”

December 30, 2024, 4:11 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Carolyn Shapiro has written this article for the NYU Law Review. Here is the abstract: In Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court rejected the extreme proposition that state legislatures operate free from state constitutional constraints and judicial review when they… Continue reading