Supreme Court Relists PA Election Cases for Its Next Conference, on 1/15

SCOTUSBlog:

Next up are two election-law cases. The petitions in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar20-542, and Scarnati v. Pennsylvania Democratic Party20-574, involve challenges to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s extension of an absentee-voting deadline last year. The challengers originally sought to undo the Pennsylvania results, but after the justices declined to intervene on an expedited basis, Republicans acknowledged in their Dec. 15 Boockvar reply brief that the case “cannot change the outcome” of the 2020 election. They argue that the court nonetheless should grant review in order to clarify the law for future elections.  Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, has already opined that “there is a strong likelihood that the [Pennsylvania] Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution.” So they likely need to pick up only one more vote for the court to grant review.

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