Telling the court that “the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next President of the United States,” the campaign of President Donald Trump went to the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon. In a 10-page filing in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar, the president’s campaign asked to join the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s appeal of… Read More
Argument analysis: Justices sympathetic to faith-based foster-care agency in anti-discrimination dispute
If the justices – like many of us – were up late on Tuesday night watching election returns, it was hard to tell when they took the virtual bench on Wednesday morning to hear oral argument in an important case involving a clash between religious freedom and laws and policies that protect LGBTQ rights. When… Read More
Court won’t block extended deadline for North Carolina mail-in ballots (updated)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday night rejected a request by the Trump campaign and North Carolina Republicans to intervene in a dispute over the deadline for mail-in ballots in North Carolina. With three justices dissenting, the justices left in place an extension of the deadline for the receipt of mail-in ballots to nine days after… Read More
Court will not weigh in on Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot deadline before election
The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon rejected a request by Pennsylvania Republicans to fast-track their challenge to a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that requires election officials to count mail-in ballots received within three days after Election Day. Republican legislators and the Pennsylvania Republican Party had asked the justices on Friday to expedite consideration… Read More
Barrett confirmed as 115th justice
The Senate on Monday night confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and the fifth woman to serve on the court. The 48-year-old Barrett fills the seat previously held by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18 of complications from pancreatic cancer. The 52-48 vote capped… Read More
Court declines to reinstate COVID-19 accommodations for elections in Wisconsin
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected requests from two groups of Wisconsin voters and the Democratic National Committee to reinstate modifications to election rules that a federal judge had ordered for the November election because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 5-3 ruling means that the the election will go forward without the accommodations, which included… Read More
Pennsylvania Republicans return to Supreme Court to challenge extended deadline for mail-in ballots
Four days after the justices left in place a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that requires election officials in that state to count mail-in ballots received within three days after Election Day, Nov. 3, Pennsylvania Republicans returned to the Supreme Court. This time, rather than asking the court to put the state supreme court’s… Read More
Justices allow Alabama to restore ban on curbside voting
The Supreme Court on Wednesday night granted a request by Alabama election officials to allow them to ban curbside voting. The justices put on hold an order by a federal district judge that would have allowed counties to adopt curbside voting while the state appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit… Read More
Supreme Court leaves in place order requiring Pennsylvania to count absentee ballots after Election Day
A deadlocked Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower-court ruling that requires Pennsylvania election officials to count absentee ballots received within three days after Election Day, Nov. 3, even if they are not postmarked. In two brief orders issued shortly after 7 p.m., the justices denied, without explanation, a request by Republicans to put… Read More
Court fast-tracks census appeal
The Supreme Court announced on Friday afternoon that it would expedite an appeal by the Trump administration in a dispute over the administration’s plan to exclude people who are in the country illegally from the state-by-state breakdown of the population for use in the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives. The justices will… Read More