Category Archives: Supreme Court

“What If Free Speech Means Banning TikTok?”

December 13, 2024, 12:26 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Alan Rozenshtein in The Atlantic: But in its decision, the court did something unexpected. In addition to crediting the government’s national-security arguments, it highlighted an important tension within pro-free-expression arguments: the right to access and speak on the platform of… Continue reading

Republican Party Suit to Blow Up Limits on Coordinated Spending Between Political Parties and Candidates Reaches the Supreme Court: I Expect They Will Take the Case and Further Deregulate Campaign Financing

December 12, 2024, 7:16 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

When the en banc Sixth Circuit decided this case, I wrote: “I have been waiting for this issue to get back to the Supreme Court for a while, and this is just the vehicle that could get it there.… Continue reading

Trump and Cheseboro filings in the Georgia conspiracy case

December 4, 2024, 11:32 pmchicanery, election law and constitutional law, Supreme Courtdemocratic backsliding, January 6Justin Levitt

As expected, President-elect Donald Trump has filed a motion in the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss the conspiracy prosecution against him in Georgia on the basis that “a sitting president is completely immune from indictment or any criminal process,… Continue reading

Must-Read Charlie Savage: “End of Trump Cases Leaves Limits on Presidential Criminality Unclear”

November 26, 2024, 7:35 amauthoritarian threats in US, chicanery, Department of Justice, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Charlie in the NYT: The end of the two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday left momentous, unsettled questions about constraints on criminal wrongdoing by presidents, from the scope of presidential immunity to whether the Justice… Continue reading

“Trump’s Judicial Hero Would Have Hated His Recess Appointments Plan”

November 25, 2024, 7:10 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak NYT Sidebar column: President-elect Donald J. Trump has singled out one former member of the Supreme Court as his judicial north star: Justice Antonin Scalia, a giant of the conservative legal movement who died in 2016. “Justice… Continue reading

“Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to Alaska campaign finance laws”

November 19, 2024, 7:40 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I missed this news yesterday: More than 14 years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which removed limits on independent political expenditures by corporations and unions, the justices declined to weigh in on … Continue reading

“Could This Presidential Election Be Decided by the Supreme Court? It is unlikely that the court ends up playing a major role in the outcome, according to elections experts, but it is possible. Here’s why.”

November 5, 2024, 7:29 amSupreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

NYT: As the polls open on Election Day, the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump appears to be a dead heat, leading some to fear that the election will be dragged out and the… Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “Thousands of Pennsylvania Ballots Will Be Tossed on a Technicality. Thank SCOTUS.”

November 4, 2024, 7:30 amabsentee ballots, election administration, Supreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Last week, the Supreme Court allowed Virginia to conduct a last minute voter purge to remove potential non-citizens from the rolls despite a federal law that seemed to bar the practice.… Continue reading

Breaking: Supreme Court Will Hear Louisiana Racial Gerrymandering Case, with Implications for Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

November 4, 2024, 6:58 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The Court noted probable jurisdiction both the state’s and the LDF’s appeals. The cases are consolidated for argument. It will present another opportunity for the Court to address the “race or party” problem endemic in these racial gerrymandering cases.

“In Pennsylvania case, SCOTUS’s far-right trio signals an openness to a power grab”

November 2, 2024, 2:08 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Chris Geidner: Which brings us back to Friday night — and the set-up aspect of Alito’s statement. Alito revealed that, in the wake of Roberts’s “middle ground” note in Moore, he, Thomas, and Gorsuch were open, in the context of Tuesday’s… Continue reading

Please Stop Wishcasting the Supreme Court into a Decisive Election Role

November 2, 2024, 12:19 amBush v. Gore reflections, election administration, election law and constitutional law, Election Meltdown, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, votingJustin Levitt

Justin here. There’s a tsunami of election litigation cascading through the legal system right now. It’s producing a lot of public anxiety, in part because it’s designed to produce a lot of public anxiety. But none of the current litigation… Continue reading

Major Breaking News: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, with No Noted Dissents, Shuts Down Argument Under State Constitutional Law for Counting of Misdated/Undated But Timely Mail-In Ballots Before Election

November 1, 2024, 3:28 pmabsentee ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the PA Supreme Court has removed the considerable uncertainty that was generated when the lower court (the Commonwealth Court) issued an opinion holding that misdated or undated but timely mail-in ballots must… Continue reading

Democratic Party Files Brief in Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Asking It to Take RNC Petition and Summarily Affirm That All Undated/Misdated But Timely Ballots Should Be Counted in Upcoming Election (If Court Did This, It Could End Up at SCOTUS)

November 1, 2024, 8:42 amabsentee ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

From the motion to intervene: This case presents a question of “substantial public importance.” 210 Pa. Code R. 1114(4). That question is whether the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Free and Equal Elections Clause, art. I, §5 (“Clause”), prohibits county boards of… Continue reading

Steve Vladeck on the Supreme Court’s Unexplained Virginia Order Earlier This Week

November 1, 2024, 7:05 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Spot on: Did the majority find Virginia’s statutory arguments more persuasive than the Fourth Circuit (and the district court) had? Did it disagree with the Fourth Circuit’s refusal to apply Purcell? Did it believe that Virginia really was suffering “irreparable harm”… Continue reading