Supreme Court won’t revive 6-day ballot deadline extension in Wisconsin, siding with GOP

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for himself and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote that he opposed the extension because the Constitution provides for elected officials, not judges, to set election rules. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were both appointed by Trump.

“Legislators can be held accountable by the people for the rules they write or fail to write; typically, judges cannot,” Gorsuch wrote. “Legislatures make policy and bring to bear the collective wisdom of the whole people when they do, while courts dispense the judgment of only a single person or a handful.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, who sided with the court’s three liberals earlier this month to allow Pennsylvania to count ballots received after Election Day, wrote separately to distinguish the cases.

“Different bodies of law and different precedents govern these two situations and require, in these particular circumstances, that we allow the modification of election rules in Pennsylvania but not Wisconsin,” Roberts wrote.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent joined by her fellow liberals Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor that the majority’s decision “disenfranchise citizens by depriving them of their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.”

“Because the Court refuses to reinstate the district court’s injunction, Wisconsin will throw out thousands of timely requested and timely cast mail ballots,” Kagan wrote.

Kagan said that the decision “does not stand alone.” In other recent cases, she wrote, the court had also made it more difficult for people to cast ballots safely.

“As the COVID pandemic rages, the Court has failed to adequately protect the Nation’s voters,” she wrote.

Kavanaugh, in his own concurrence, said that he acknowledged that Covid-19 was a serious problem, but “you need deadlines to hold elections — there is just no wishing away or getting around that fundamental point. And Wisconsin’s deadline is the same as that in 30 other States and is a reasonable deadline given all the circumstances.”

“Moving a deadline would not prevent ballots from arriving after the newly minted deadline any more than moving first base would mean no more close plays,” he added.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/26/supreme-court-rejects-push-for-wisconsin-ballot-deadline-extension.html