Some new twists in the fight over how far past Election Day absentee ballots can be counted in Pennsylvania:
- Recall SCOTUS voted 4-4 not to disturb a PA Supreme Court decision that extended the deadline to Nov. 6: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
- The PA Republican Party has now asked the PA Supreme Court to stay its decision re: the Nov. 6 deadline while it pursues a cert petition at SCOTUS (recall the last round was about an emergency stay application): scotusblog.com/wp-content/upl…

(HT to @SCOTUSblog for posting the docs)
@SCOTUSblog - So now a cert petition has been filed with SCOTUS, and the PA GOP is asking the justices for "expedited consideration" —  "to decide the case on the merits before Election Day or, in the alternative, on an otherwise expedited schedule"
- Meanwhile, down the block from SCOTUS: the Senate is poised to vote on Monday to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the ninth justice, perhaps (but maybe not! who knows!) giving Republicans the vote they need to reinstate PA's Election Day deadline for absentee ballots
- Meanwhile pt. II: There's a separate case pending in federal court where a GOP congressional candidate and PA voters are challenging the PA Supreme Court's decision extending the absentee ballot deadline as unconstitutional. TRO hearing set for 10/27 assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7275…

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More from @ZoeTillman

24 Oct
Voters In Alabama’s Largest County Could Have Their Ballots Thrown Out After A Court Ruled Instructions They Were Sent Are No Longer Valid buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
A judge ruled that Alabama couldn't enforce a witness req. for absentee voters with medical conditions that put them at risk of COVID. In Jefferson County, officials sent voters a waiver form. Then an appeals court stepped in and reversed. buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Voting rights groups have urged the county to notify voters who may have gotten the waiver that they do, in fact, need witnesses — and to figure out how to give voters who used the waiver a chance to make sure their ballots don't get tossed out buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 6 tweets
22 Oct
SCOTUS voted 5-3 to allow Alabama to ban curbside voting for people with disabilities that put them at higher risk from COVID buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Justice Sotomayor, dissenting, said the court was standing in the way of counties "ready and willing to help vulnerable voters."
An Alabama district judge had blocked Alabama from enforcing the curbside voting ban during the pandemic after a lengthy trial, and the 11th Circuit rejected Alabama's request to pause that order. The state AG's office petitioned SCOTUS to step in buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
According to an amicus brief that advocates for disabled persons and the elderly filed with SCOTUS, there are at least 29 states that allow for some form of curbside voting, usually to accomodate people with disabilities buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 5 tweets
22 Oct
Now: Judge Amy Coney Barrett is one big step closer to confirmation to the US Supreme Court, with Republicans voting to advance her nomination out of committee despite a boycott by Democrats buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Today's Senate Judiciary Committee vote to advance Barrett's nomination appeared to violate the committee's own rules, which require at least two members of the minority party present to do business buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Other judge news:
- Last night, the White House announced two new nominations, including Thomas Kirsch II, the US attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, for Barrett's seat on the 7th Circuit once she's confirmed
Read 5 tweets
21 Oct
Now: DOJ has asked to delay today's 3:30pm hearing on the govt's motion to take over E. Jean Carroll's libel suit against Trump — they say the DOJ lawyer who was supposed to argue today was denied entry to the NY courthouse because he'd traveled from Virginia
Here's the latest travel advisory yesterday from NY Gov. Cuomo - Virginia is on the list of states where people are supposed to quarantine for 14 days if they travel to NY; the press release says Maryland and Arizona were the new additions though governor.ny.gov/news/governor-…
There's a press release dated Oct. 13 from Cuomo announcing Virginia had been added to New York's travel advisory list: governor.ny.gov/news/governor-…
Read 9 tweets
21 Oct
New: The en banc 4th Circuit voted 12-3 to leave intact a later deadline for North Carolina to accept absentee ballots after Election Day, rejecting a stay request from the Trump campaign, the RNC, and NC Republicans assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7273…

Prev: buzzfeednews.com/article/kendal…
Note that this order does not split along this court's normal ideological lines — Trump's three appointees to the 4th Circuit split with the court's other three more conservative judges to vote to deny Republicans' request for a stay
Judge Wynn: "Accordingly, this Court must deny the requested injunction. To do otherwise would risk endangering a great many of our doctrines, to say nothing of the health of the voters of North Carolina as they attempt to safely exercise their right to vote."
Read 7 tweets
19 Oct
NEW: Pennsylvania must count ballots received by Nov. 6 — in many cases even without a clear Election Day postmark — after the US Supreme Court split 4-4 on a challenge brought by Republicans. More to come.
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Tonight's 4-4 vote from SCOTUS is a win for Democrats and a loss for Republicans in Pennsylvania — it leaves in place a state Supreme court ruling that requires election officials to accept mail-in ballots through Nov. 6 buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
What this 4-4 order does *not* do is resolve the myriad other legal challenges around how states are handling mail-in voting during the pandemic that are still pending before SCOTUS or trickling up through the lower courts buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 4 tweets

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