Election Law

Supreme Court will hear Louisiana map case with impacts for Black voters

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a complex dispute over how Louisiana draws congressional maps that could affect the power of Black voters in the state and the balance of power in Congress. The case will not impact Tuesday’s election since it won’t be decided for months, but legal experts said it could have significant ramifications for how states consider race in drawing congressional districts to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Nov 4, 2024 12:00 PM CST

Meet Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, who wears GOP scorn ‘like a badge of honor’

Even his detractors call Democratic lawyer Marc Elias one of the toughest election lawyers in the country. “In his three-decade career,” the New York Times reports, he “has arguably done more than any single person outside government to shape … the rules.”

Nov 4, 2024 11:23 AM CST

DOJ will send monitors to 86 counties for Election Day, the most in two decades

The Justice Department on Friday said it will send election monitors to 86 jurisdictions in 27 states on Tuesday, amid growing fears of improper partisan influence and voter suppression.

Nov 1, 2024 3:00 PM CDT

Trump picks Northern District of Texas for lawsuit over Harris’s CBS interview

Republican nominee Donald Trump sued CBS News on Thursday over an interview with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris that aired on its 60 Minutes program. The long-shot claim was filed in the Northern District of Texas courthouse where Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee, is the sole judge.

Nov 1, 2024 10:50 AM CDT

Elon Musk case over $1M voter giveaway moved to federal court

An attempt by Philadelphia’s district attorney to block Elon Musk and his pro-Trump super PAC from continuing a $1 million daily giveaway to registered swing-state voters was put on hold Thursday morning.

Oct 31, 2024 1:00 PM CDT

Jones Day gets involved in election litigation for RNC after declining to advise Trump campaign

Jones Day is no longer advising the Trump campaign, but the law firm is staying involved in election litigation.

Oct 31, 2024 9:15 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: Elections matter, from composition of federal bench to our highest court

In what might be one of the of the most consequential presidential campaigns in our lifetime, and maybe American history, remarkably little attention has been paid to judicial appointments. But the longest legacy of any presidency is the picks for the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. History shows how much presidential elections matter.

Oct 31, 2024 8:52 AM CDT

Supreme Court allows Virginia effort to strike possible noncitizen voters

A divided Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for Virginia officials to remove about 1,600 voters from the state’s registration rolls less than one week before the presidential election.

Oct 30, 2024 10:40 AM CDT

4th Circuit strikes down effort to purge suspected noncitizen voters

A federal appeals court on Sunday upheld the ruling of a Virginia judge who struck down an effort from state officials to automatically cancel voter registrations of suspected noncitizens, pointing to a federal law that prohibits states from purging voters 90 days before a presidential election.

Oct 28, 2024 3:15 PM CDT

5th Circuit rules ballots that arrive late shouldn’t be counted despite postmarks

A federal appeals court Friday ruled invalid a Mississippi law that allows election officials to count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by then.

Oct 28, 2024 12:45 PM CDT

Meet the sheriffs who believe they are ‘The Highest Law in the Land’

In The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy, lawyer and journalist Jessica Pishko takes a deep dive into the history of this position in American life and at a far-right movement hoping to co-opt it.

Oct 24, 2024 1:30 PM CDT

Appendix of source materials unsealed in Trump Jan. 6 prosecution

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on Friday unsealed a heavily redacted—and unrevelatory—version of the appendix of source materials underpinning special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Donald Trump for election interference.

Oct 18, 2024 11:25 AM CDT

Judge approves releasing source documents that detail more Trump-Jan. 6 evidence

A federal judge on Thursday approved the public release of redacted source documents that helped inform special counsel Jack Smith’s explosive 165-page legal brief arguing that Donald Trump can still face prosecution for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election, but gave the former president seven days to take steps to block the disclosure.

Oct 11, 2024 9:31 AM CDT

5 takeaways from the big new filing on Trump’s 2020 election plot

We now have the most extensive new detail in years about former President Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election, in the form of a much-anticipated filing from special counsel Jack Smith. It features some significant revelations and quotes that could be important not just for the legal battle, but for the 2024 election.

Oct 3, 2024 1:15 PM CDT

Judge resigns amid Jan. 6 rally probe; ‘I would do it over again’

A New York village and town court judge has agreed to resign amid an investigation into his attendance at a Jan. 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C.

Sep 30, 2024 11:49 AM CDT