Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Torch Federal District Court Judge

Dan Bongino:

This article is authored by Mitch Nemeth

With the 2020 election less than one week away and early voting underway, politicians and activists groups are pulling out all of the tricks to increase voter turnout for their respective candidates. Last week, the Supreme Court denied an application for stay from Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers. In typical fashion, Republican-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Democrat-appointed justices to allow Pennsylvania election officials to count mail-in-ballots received within three days of Election Day so long as the envelopes are postmarked before November 3^rd. This week, a majority of the Supreme Court denied an application to vacate the stay in a Wisconsin election case.

In this case, Wisconsin voters asked the Supreme Court to reinstate COVID-19 accommodations that had been granted unilaterally by a Federal District Court. This controversy began with Wisconsin Democrats seeking special accommodations for this election. U.S. District Judge William Conley ordered “election officials to count all absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received by November 9^th,” six days after Election Day. The critical controversy in this case is Judge Conley’s unilateral rewriting of state election laws. Wisconsin Republicans emphasized that the Supreme Court stands clear in its unwillingness to provide federal courts the ability to “re-write state election laws.” Even Chief Justice Roberts, generally a swing vote, concluded that Judge Conley’s order wrongly intruded in state lawmaking process. Justice Gorsuch along with Justice Kavanaugh concurred with the court’s decision and went on to scorch the Federal District Court.

Justice Gorsuch wrote, “Elections must end sometimes, a single deadline supplies clear notice, and requiring ballots be in by Election Day puts all voters on the same footing.” Gorsuch continued, “Because of the current pandemic, the court suggested, it was free to substitute its own election deadline for the State’s. Never mind that, in response to the pandemic, the Wisconsin Elections Commission decided to mail registered voters an absentee ballot application and return envelope over the summer, so no one had to ask for one. Never mind that voters have also been free to seek and return absentee ballots since September…Never mind that those unable to vote on Election Day have still other options in Wisconsin, like voting in-person during a 2-week voting period before Election Day.” This is a scathing indictment of Judge Conley’s overreach. more here