Pa. Supreme Court: “The want of due diligence demonstrated in this matter is unmistakable. Petitioners filed this facial challenge to the mail-in voting statutory provisions more than one year after the enactment of Act 77.” By means of a per curiam order issued this evening, the Pa. Supreme Court has rejected and dismissed a suit alleging that Pennsylvania’s statute authorizing widespread voting by mail violated Pennsylvania’s Constitution.
Justice David N. Wecht issued a concurring statement. And Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor issued a concurring and dissenting statement, in which Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy joined.
“Open the Bar: Toward Greater Supreme Court Transparency.” Harry William Baumgarten has this essay, in which he argues that the U.S. Supreme Court‘s failure to make available online the names of the members of its bar is cause for concern, online at the Georgetown Public Policy Review.
“The Supreme Court finally has a majority that will protect religious freedom”: Columnist Henry Olsen has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“California Supreme Court refuses to halt San Bernardino civil trial over COVID-19 fears; California State University system, named as defendants in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, had argued the trial could be a super-spreader event”: Scott Schwebke has this article online at The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, California.
“Trump’s bid to exclude undocumented immigrants from reapportionment arrives at Supreme Court”: Robert Barnes and Tara Bahrampour of The Washington Post have this report.
“Pennsylvania’s top court expected to act quickly on appeal to let state proceed with election certification; The Wolf administration is asking the state Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to invalidate mail-in ballots cast Nov. 3 or let the legislature pick Pa.’s electors”: Emily Previti of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s NPR affiliate WITF has this report.
“Judge Questions Pennsylvania Mail-In Vote Law Enacted in 2019”: Bob Van Voris of Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “A Pennsylvania judge who tried to halt additional steps needed to certify the state’s 2020 election results said the Pennsylvania legislature’s expansion of mail-in voting, enacted over a year earlier, was likely illegal.”
My earlier coverage of last night’s opinion of Pa. Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia A. McCullough can be accessed here.
“Emmet Sullivan’s handling of the Michael Flynn case is vindicated”: Elliot Williams has this essay online at The Washington Post.
In other commentary on this subject, Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal contained an editorial titled “A Pardon for General Flynn: Finally an end to a disgraceful case of politicized prosecution.”
Also in Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberley A. Strassel had an op-ed titled “Justice for Michael Flynn: Trump’s pardon for his onetime national security adviser rights a grievous wrong.”
“Supreme Court’s scientifically illiterate decision will cost lives”: Jeffrey D. Sachs has this essay online at CNN.
“High court takes up census case, as other count issues loom”: Mike Schneider and Mark Sherman of The Associated Press have this report.
And The Saturday Essay feature in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, written by Janet Adamy and Paul Overberg, is headlined “The Census Predicament: Counting Americans by Race; The racial and ethnic categories used by the U.S. Census obscure the changing ways we think about identity and assimilation.”
“Biden Aims to Appoint Liberal Judges After Trump’s Conservative Push; President-elect will seek nominees who see robust role for judiciary in addressing national problems, protecting individual rights”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.
A Pa. Commonwealth Court judge opined late Friday that challengers to Pa.’s general election results have a likelihood of success in prevailing on their claim that the statute authorizing mail-in ballots violates Pa.’s Constitution: You can access Friday’s opinion of Judge Patricia A. McCullough at this link. The relevant language from the opinion that I am referring to in this post’s title appears on pages 10-11 of the opinion.
The order that is the subject of this opinion is already pending on direct appeal before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Under the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure, the judge who issued an order that is on direct appeal is required to issue an opinion in support of that order to facilitate appellate review. That is the purpose of the opinion that Judge McCullough issued late Friday.
“The Constitution Will Survive Covid-19: The pandemic may justify extraordinary measures, but judges won’t accept the most draconian ones.” David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey will have this op-ed in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Who Is an American ‘Person’? The Supreme Court considers the Census and undocumented immigrants.” This editorial will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Justice Dept. rule change could allow federal executions by electrocution or firing squad”: Matt Zapotosky and Mark Berman of The Washington Post have this report.
“Don’t Read Too Much Into Supreme Court Religion Ruling; A new majority this week showed elevated concern for the rights of believers but not necessarily a devotion to other conservative principles”: Law professor Cass R. Sunstein has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.
“In Harsh Rebuke, Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Election Challenge in Pennsylvania; ‘Voters, not lawyers, choose the president,’ a judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in the 21-page repudiation of Mr. Trump’s legal effort to halt Pennsylvania’s certification process”: Alan Feuer will have this article in Saturday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Federal appeals court denies Trump campaign effort to revive Pennsylvania lawsuit saying ‘claims have no merit'”: Kara Scannell of CNN has this report.
And Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News reports that “Trump’s Campaign Lost In Court — Again — Trying To Undo Biden’s Win In Pennsylvania; ‘The Campaign’s claims have no merit,’ wrote Judge Stephanos Bibas, one of Trump’s appointments to the 3rd Circuit.”
“Court Denies Trump Campaign’s Appeal of Pennsylvania Ballot Challenge; Ruling strikes latest blow to president’s efforts to overturn his defeat, saying claims lack merit and would cause ‘drastic and unprecedented’ voter disenfranchisement”: Corinne Ramey of The Wall Street Journal has this report.
And Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Trump Pa. election suit rejected in federal appeals court.”
“Federal appeals court rejects Trump request to block certification of Pennsylvania’s election results”: Jon Swaine of The Washington Post has this report.
“Federal appeals court rejects appeal of Trump’s last significant suit challenging Pa. election”: Jeremy Roebuck of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.
“US appeals court rejects Trump appeal over Pennsylvania race”: Maryclaire Dale of The Associated Press has this report on today’s non-precedential ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“Census Gives Trump a Final Supreme Court Showdown on Immigration”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.
“Fireworks Over Religious Liberty; The Supreme Court says Cuomo’s restrictions on worship violate the First Amendment”: This editorial appears in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“What a conservative majority on the court really means”: Steven V. Mazie has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Washington Post.
“The Supreme Court’s latest ruling exposes personal fissures among the nine justices”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this report.
“The Battle Over Scalia’s Legacy: The late justice advocated judicial restraint, textualism, and originalism, but conservative jurists will have to choose among them.” Law professor Noah Feldman has this review (subscription required for full access) of the book “The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law” in the December 17, 2020 issue of The New York Review of Books.
“The Legality of Presidential Self-Pardons”: Paul J. Larkin, Jr. has posted this paper on SSRN.
“Attorney General Curtis Hill asks Supreme Court to take on Indiana same-sex parenting case”: Johnny Magdaleno of The Indianapolis Star has this report.
“Senate Democrats Face Power Struggle for Top Judiciary Job; Senators Richard J. Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse are vying to be the top Democrat on the panel that controls judicial nominations, reflecting a broader debate among activists about how to wield power”: Carl Hulse of The New York Times has this report.
“Trump commits to stepping down if electoral college votes for Biden”: Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post has this report.
“Barrett confirmation sparks flood of Supreme Court-bound challenges from pro-gun groups”: David Sherfinski of The Washington Times has this report.
“Supreme Court’s Ruling Blocking Cuomo’s Covid-19 Order Could Influence Other Cases; Up to 20 lawsuits involving houses of worship could be affected by high-court decision”: Stephanie Yang, Josh Mitchell, and Alicia A. Caldwell of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
“Trump’s imprint on Supreme Court shows conservative effect in key coronavirus ruling”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this report.
“Midnight Ruling Exposes Rifts at a Supreme Court Transformed by Trump; The justices issued six opinions, several of them unusually bitter, in upholding challenges from churches and synagogues to state pandemic restrictions on religious services”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.
And Jesse McKinley and Liam Stack of The New York Times report that “Cuomo Attacks Supreme Court, but Virus Ruling Is Warning to Governors; The court signaled that if unconstrained religious observance and public safety are sometimes at odds, then religious freedom should win out.”
