Ezra Klein at Vox: [T]he Supreme Court’s conservative bloc doesn’t just reflect the outcomes of America’s undemocratic electoral rules; it is writing and, in some cases, rewriting them, to favor the Republican Party — making it easier to suppress votes, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Supreme Court
Deep, insightful post from Ned at SCOTUSBlog: Justice Anthony Kennedy’s jurisprudence on voting rights must be understood in the context of his overall constitutional philosophy. While certainly appreciative of the role that democratic elections play as part of the republican … Continue reading
Tweet thread. … Continue reading
Here at Twitter. … Continue reading
Here’s an interview I did on NPR’s Morning Edition. … Continue reading
NYT: Judicial Crisis Network, an organization that promotes conservative judicial nominees, announced last week that it would spend more than $1 million to support Mr. Trump’s nominee. So far, the group has spent as much as $140,000 on a series of nearly … Continue reading
The National Law Journal has an interesting article on Jim Bopp sending a letter to President Trump and VP Pence arguing against Judge Brett Kavanaugh for SCOTUS on grounds that he’s not deregulatory enough when it comes to campaign finance … Continue reading
Here’s the order. There’s not much left to do after the Supreme Court killed most of the plaintiffs’ case in Abbott v. Perez. My take at Slate: Suppression of Minority Voting Rights Is About to Get Way Worse. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement from the Supreme Court last week, was certainly the “swing justice” in key cases on major issues from abortion to gay rights. But when … Continue reading
NYT: The Supreme Court decision striking down mandatory union fees for government workers was not only a blow to unions. It will also hit hard at a vast network of groups dedicated to advancing liberal policies and candidates. Some of these groups … Continue reading
WaPo: “This president had a vision,” Leo said. “He did something entrepreneurial and different. He had a very clear sense of what he wanted, he spent a lot of time asking questions about [the late] Justice [Antonin] Scalia and Justice … Continue reading
NYT: On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm. The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority … Continue reading
Nina Totenberg analysis for NPR. … Continue reading
Michael Wines for the NY Times: For 14 years, as partisan gerrymanders across the country grew more extreme, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy came to symbolize hopes that the Supreme Court would eventually rein them in. His retirement this week did … Continue reading
Adam Liptak and Maggie Haberman at the NYT with some scintillating details of the effort to butter up Justice Kennedy. Unfortunately it has led to some nutty conspiracy theories about Justice Kennedy deciding cases to help Trump for corrupt reasons. … Continue reading
It was great to be part of this very interesting (albeit depressing) discussion. … Continue reading
Scroll down to page 18 of the orders and you will find a per curiam opinion in the Covington case. No big surprise here. The Court agrees that the district court had the power to cure racial gerrymanders it found, … Continue reading
Breaking: Supreme Court affirms without opinion lower court order rejecting partisan gerrrymandering claim in North Carolina https://t.co/GDhucsNWGM But two other cases remain pending and will work their way back to Court next term. This is somewhat of a surprise /1 … Continue reading
With the Kennedy retirement (my thoughts here and here), this should be a doozy of an event. C-SPAN is scheduled to cover. The 2017-2018 Supreme Court Review June 28, 2018 12:00 PM – 02:00 PM Event Location: National Press … Continue reading
You can find a link to listen here. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Buckle up, folks. If you did not like what the Supreme Court has done in the last few weeks on voting rights, public-sector unions, and Trump’s travel ban, things are going … Continue reading
Following my prediction of a Kennedy retirement yesterday over at Slate, I’m adding my early thoughts to this tweet thread. More later. … Continue reading
As I expected, the 3 judge court in the North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case has set a quick schedule to consider standing issues under Gill following a Supreme Court remand. Briefs are due July 11. Assuming the lower court issues an … Continue reading
James Lucas for National Review. … Continue reading
Michael Li reminds us: Side note: There actually is a third North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case – Harris v. Cooper – that still is awaiting some action by SCOTUS. It also had been set for conference last week, but no … Continue reading
You can find it here. You can also read my Slate piece on the decision, “Suppression of Minority Voting Rights Is About to Get Way Worse; The Supreme Court has put its thumb on the scales in favor of discriminatory states. … Continue reading
Mark Joseph Stern for Slate: What may be most remarkable about Monday’s decision in Abbott v. Perez, however, is Justice Neil Gorsuch’s effort to position himself as a fierce opponent of the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court already gutted a … Continue reading
WaPo: The Supreme Court signaled Monday that it is in no hurry to decide two important questions it sidestepped earlier this term: whether a business owner’s religious beliefs can justify refusing wedding services to same-sex couples, and how courts should … Continue reading
Great opening quoting Justin Levitt and Rick Pildes in this well-done NPR report by Nina Totenberg on today’s Texas redistricting decision. … Continue reading
Funny, rude & innovative, Antonin Scalia was a disrupter on the court. @rickhasen's THE JUSTICE OF CONTRADICTIONS (@yalepress) wrestles w/Scalia’s favored ways of interpreting the law, textualism & originalism. He joins @heathbrown for this #podcast. https://t.co/gzK2tSsWLo pic.twitter.com/4xR3QEHUNS — NB Political … Continue reading
The Supreme Court has vacated and remanded the North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case, rather than setting it for argument. This is another sign Justice Kennedy is not ready to weigh back in so fast. I discussed what that remand order … Continue reading
Listen at Slate’s Amicus. … Continue reading
Patt Morrison talks to Dan Tokaji about the Husted voter purge case. … Continue reading
Announcement via email: Hurry Up and Wait: What’s Next with Redistricting? Join ACS on June 26 at 4:30pm Eastern for a webinar featuring Paul Smith of the Campaign Legal Center and Michael Li of the Brennan Center for Justice discussing … Continue reading
I had thought that the partisan gerrymandering cases were going to end with a whimper rather than a bang, and that’s exactly what happened. With thoughts that Justice Thomas or Alito likely have the opinion in the Texas redistricting cases … Continue reading
Philly Inquirer reports. … Continue reading
The Court had the case on its conference docket for today, but it is possible these supplemental briefs will further delay disposition of the case. Jun 19 2018 Second supplemental brief of appellees Common Cause, et al. filed. (Distributed) Main … Continue reading
The Supreme Court issued four opinions today, and signalled a rare Friday opinion release tomorrow with 10 cases remaining. The Court is likely to finish its term and release of the remaining opinions some time next week. Only three Justices … Continue reading
WaPo editorial. … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Wisconsin Republicans are claiming victory with Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to send a lawsuit over the state’s legislative boundaries back to a lower court without addressing whether the map is constitutionally drawn. But Democrats say the ruling doesn’t put … Continue reading
Lee Drutman NYT oped: Reformers could certainly try again next year, perhaps finding new approaches to avoid the shoals of standing. But a better approach would be to revamp the antiquated electoral institution that makes elaborate districting schemes both possible … Continue reading
Guy Charles for the ACS Blog on Gill. … Continue reading
Carolyn Shapiro oped in The Hill. … Continue reading
Strong start: Special Feature: Symposium on the court’s rulings in Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone Date Author Post Title 06.19.18 David Gans Symposium: The fight to vindicate our Constitution’s promise of democracy is far from over 06.18.18 Derek … Continue reading
Nina Totenberg reports for NPR. … Continue reading
Eric Segall for NBC Think. … Continue reading
Mike Parsons blogs. … Continue reading
Marcia Coyle: Stanford Law School’s Pamela Karlan, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of a group of law professors supporting the Wisconsin challengers, said the decision reflects “four justices who will never find this justiciable and four who will … Continue reading
Joan Biskupic for CNN. … Continue reading
Adam Liptak reports for the NYT: But the decisions were a setback for critics of gerrymandering, who had hoped that the Supreme Court would transform American democracy by subjecting to close judicial scrutiny the way districts have been redrawn to … Continue reading