SCOTUS Just Set the Stage for Republicans to Steal the Election
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin from extending the absentee voting deadline, disenfranchising thousands and creating a terrible precedent.
By Elie Mystal
Today 10:30 am
Excerpts, rest at link as usual:
"The case before the Supreme Court involved today’s federal primary election in Wisconsin. The Democratic governor of the state, Tony Evers, asked the Republican-controlled state Legislature to move back the date of the election, like so many other states have done, amid concerns over Covid-19. The Legislature said no, deliberating for all of 17 seconds on the matter. Evers then asked the Legislature to mail absentee ballots to every voter in Wisconsin. The Republicans said no. Yesterday afternoon, Evers issued an executive order moving the election to June 9. But the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled him by nightfall.
While those state-level machinations were happening, the Democratic National Committee sued the Republican National Committee to extend, by a week, the deadline for Wisconsinites to receive absentee ballots. Given the fast-moving crisis, many voters who would normally vote in person had realized late that they would need to vote absentee. The district court for western Wisconsin sided with the DNC, giving voters an extra week to request, receive, and mail back their absentee ballots.
But the RNC challenged that ruling. (Are you sensing a pattern?) Republicans wanted to require all absentee ballots to be postmarked by election day, April 7, and no later, otherwise they would be thrown out. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit shut the Republicans down, but then the Republicans appealed to the Supreme Court, where five Republicans in robes were waiting for them with open arms.
In an unsigned opinion, the five conservative justices backed the Republican Party’s case, while the four liberal ones dissented. It’s Bush v. Gore all over again, with the Supreme Court choosing electoral winners and losers."
The key paragraph as far as I'm concerned:
"Or, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a fierce dissent: “The majority of this court declares that this case presents a ‘narrow, technical question.’ That is wrong. The question here is whether tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens can vote safely in the midst of a pandemic.”
[Poster's note: if you wouldn't expect people to vote in person during a hurricane or a blizzard then you shouldn't expect people to vote in person during a pandemic either. Of course, for Neil Gorsuch this obviously presents no moral or ethical issues whatsoever.]
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/scotus-wisconsin-election/
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin from extending the absentee voting deadline, disenfranchising thousands and creating a terrible precedent.
By Elie Mystal
Today 10:30 am
Excerpts, rest at link as usual:
"The case before the Supreme Court involved today’s federal primary election in Wisconsin. The Democratic governor of the state, Tony Evers, asked the Republican-controlled state Legislature to move back the date of the election, like so many other states have done, amid concerns over Covid-19. The Legislature said no, deliberating for all of 17 seconds on the matter. Evers then asked the Legislature to mail absentee ballots to every voter in Wisconsin. The Republicans said no. Yesterday afternoon, Evers issued an executive order moving the election to June 9. But the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled him by nightfall.
While those state-level machinations were happening, the Democratic National Committee sued the Republican National Committee to extend, by a week, the deadline for Wisconsinites to receive absentee ballots. Given the fast-moving crisis, many voters who would normally vote in person had realized late that they would need to vote absentee. The district court for western Wisconsin sided with the DNC, giving voters an extra week to request, receive, and mail back their absentee ballots.
But the RNC challenged that ruling. (Are you sensing a pattern?) Republicans wanted to require all absentee ballots to be postmarked by election day, April 7, and no later, otherwise they would be thrown out. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit shut the Republicans down, but then the Republicans appealed to the Supreme Court, where five Republicans in robes were waiting for them with open arms.
In an unsigned opinion, the five conservative justices backed the Republican Party’s case, while the four liberal ones dissented. It’s Bush v. Gore all over again, with the Supreme Court choosing electoral winners and losers."
The key paragraph as far as I'm concerned:
"Or, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a fierce dissent: “The majority of this court declares that this case presents a ‘narrow, technical question.’ That is wrong. The question here is whether tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens can vote safely in the midst of a pandemic.”
[Poster's note: if you wouldn't expect people to vote in person during a hurricane or a blizzard then you shouldn't expect people to vote in person during a pandemic either. Of course, for Neil Gorsuch this obviously presents no moral or ethical issues whatsoever.]
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/scotus-wisconsin-election/
Comments
Post a Comment