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Supremes to Texas Voters: Drop Dead

June 26, 2020


U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Lift Stay on Vote by Mail

By Michael King, 5:15PM, Fri. Jun. 26, 2020

Supremes to Texas Voters: Drop Dead

In a terse order issued Friday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to lift a stay on an injunction that would have allowed all Texas voters to do so by mail. The order reads: “The application to vacate stay presented to JUSTICE ALITO and by him referred to the Court is denied.”

The order is in response to a June 16 filing by the Texas Democratic Party, asking the Court to lift the stay imposed by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of a ruling by San Antonio federal judge Fred Biery to allow voting by mail to all eligible Texas voters, under pandemic conditions. Justice Samuel Alito oversees the Fifth Circuit; the order indicates he referred the matter to the full court.

The TDP filing also asked the Court to expedite consideration of the constitutional merits of the plaintiffs’ suit: most specifically, that the 26th Amendment (which enabled those 18 and older to vote) explicitly prohibits discrimination against voters on the basis of age. (One eligibility standard for mail ballots in Texas is that the voter be 65 years or older.)

In an unusual note accompanying the order, Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggests instead that the Fifth Circuit expedite its consideration of the case.

“This application raises weighty but seemingly novel questions regarding the Twenty-Sixth Amendment,” writes Sotomayor. “I do not disagree with the decision to refrain from addressing them for the first time here, in the context of an emergency application to vacate a stay of an injunction. But I hope that the Court of Appeals will consider the merits of the legal issues in this case well in advance of the November election.”

Sotomayor’s exhortation suggests the Supreme Court will wait for a Fifth Circuit ruling before accepting its own consideration of the TDP appeal. Yet in applying to the Supremes, TDP general counsel Chad Dunn noted that the Fifth Circuit’s stay order – by a three-judge panel – effectively (and at length) ruled on the appeal in advance of any hearing by the full court.

The already delayed Supreme Court order has rendered impossible any attempt to expand VBM in time for the July 14 interim election – early voting begins Monday, in the midst of a spiking Texas epidemic. That the Fifth Circuit might rule in time to enable early Supreme Court consideration, let alone a decision allowing a sufficient planning period for the November election, appears unlikely.

This is an ongoing story; follow the daily News and the Chronicle‘s print edition.

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READ MORE

More Vote-by-Mail

Democrats Take Vote-by-Mail to Supreme Court
VBM at Supreme Court

TDP and voters request Supremes to lift stay on VBM for all

Michael King, June 16, 2020

Paxton Renews Threats Against Vote-by-Mail
Paxton’s Latest Threats

Attorney General threatens “criminal sanctions” for “illegal” VBM

Michael King, June 15, 2020

More U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court to Hear Texas Abortion Case This Week
HB 2 at SCOTUS

HB 2 oral arguments start Wednesday

Mary Tuma, March 1, 2016

U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Texas Abortion Law Case
SCOTUS Takes Up HB2

Justices have until June to make a final ruling

Mary Tuma, Nov. 13, 2015

More by Michael King

High (Relative) Turnout in Early Voting as Election Day Approaches
Election Early Update

Confusion over mail ballots lingers

July 7, 2020

Can’t Vote by Mail Now? Perhaps November.
Can’t Vote by Mail Now? Perhaps November.

Courts have time – if not the will – to expand VBM before general election

June 30, 2020

KEYWORDS FOR THIS POST

Vote-by-Mail, U.S. Supreme Court, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas Democratic Party

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