When the Supreme Court begins its October 2004 term, it will have the chance to take up a few very interesting election law cases.
First, there are the Texas redistricting cases up on appeal, meaning the Court must summarily affirm, reverse, or set the cases for argument. (A New York redistricting case, Rodriguez v. Pataki, is also before the Court).
Kentucky has petitioned for cert in a case raising the question whether the “express advocacy” test has any constitutional significance after McConnell. Stumbo v. Anderson, No. 04-103 (cert. petition from Anderson v. Spear, 356 F.3d 651 (6th Cir. 2004)).
Convicted felons challenging New York’s felon disenfranishment law under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act have petitioned for cert in Muntaquim v. Coombe, 04-175 (below, 366 F.3d 102). Because the Second Circuit held there was no Section 2 violation, I think the Court is unlikely to take this case. It is more likely to take the Ninth Circuit or Eleventh Circuit cases (if cert. is sought in those cases), which held that a Section 2 violation is possible. The Ninth Circuit case featured a strong dissent from Judge Kozinski (Update: The Ninth Circuit case is also pending.)