Ned Foley [corrected link]: “For all three of these reasons, it seems problematic for the federal court to grant the relief the plaintiffs now request, even if it were appropriate for the court to reach the merits of plaintiffs’ new claim. Ordinarily, I am hesitant to evaluate the merits of a pending issue before a court until I’ve had the opportunity to read and reflect upon the full briefing of the issue, from all sides to the litigation. In the present situation, there are more briefs to come this week from both plaintiffs and the Secretary of State (and perhaps others), according to a schedule set by the court. But because there has been considerable media attention to this issue over the weekend, I thought it might be helpful (for members of the public trying to understand what is going on) to offer this preliminary analysis of the issue—even though it is necessarily tentative in light of the still-unfolding nature of litigation.”