Category Archives: election law “humor”

“Reporting Gerrymanders”

Ross Davies has written this fun article for The Green Bag. Here is the abstract:

Over the past 80 years or so, maps have appeared in many (but not all) of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions involving gerrymanders. This papers discusses some of those maps, and also addresses a couple of problems with the way those maps are published (or not published) in the U.S. Reports, in the Supreme Court Reporter, and in online databases of Supreme Court opinions.

There is an accompanying puzzle which is, alas, sold out.

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Supreme Court: Election Litigation That Doesn’t Come Too Early Comes Too Late

AP:

A divided Supreme Court ruled today that there is no right time to file a case contending that an election law unconstitutionally violates the right to vote protected by the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.

On a 6-3 vote, the Court in an unsigned (per curiam) opinion explained that lawsuits protecting voting rights cannot be filed well before the election, because in those cases the claims are “unripe” and plaintiffs lack standing due to the speculative nature of such claims. But claims cannot be filed too close to the election, under what has come to be known as the “Purcell Principle,” because changes in election laws close to the election risk confusion of voters and election administrators.

“Although we held in the 1886 case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins that voting rights are fundamental because they are ‘preservative’ of all other rights, that is no excuse to ignore limits on the courts’ jurisdiction to hear only ‘cases and controversies’ and to limit states’ unfettered ability to suppress the vote for political reasons,” the opinion explains.

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Georgia Legislators Advance Bill Making Standing in Line to Vote Over 30 Minutes a “Loitering” Crime Subject to Imprisonment

AJC:

Fresh on the heels of a new restrictive voting law prohibiting the provision of even water to voters who wait in line to vote, Georgia legislators on the last day of the legislative session advanced a measure criminalizing line-standing. Under the bill, any voter waiting more than 30 minutes in a voting line may be criminally punished for illegal loitering. Governor Kemp is expected to sign the measure.

“We understand in big cities, where lines typically are the longest, people want to vote like other Georgians,” a statement from Republican legislative leaders read. “But those rights need to be balanced with the right to tranquility and quiet in our streets.”

The Honest Elections Project praised the bill as a “common sense” measure aimed at bolstering voter confidence and preventing fraud. Heritage Action said the proposed law was necessary to prevent non-citizens in big cities from voting.

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