Democrats fail to get an emergency order for mail-in ballots
On Friday the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) delivered a victory to Texas Republicans. They agreed to stay out of a dispute that would allow a change in mail-in voting. For now, SCOTUS kept in place a lower court order blocking a request from state Democratic leaders to expand the mail-in ballot option. The Supreme Court it staying out of it until the case is litigated.
The interesting part of this decision is that all of the justices agreed with the decision to stay out of the battle for now. An application to vacate the stay was presented to Justice Samuel Alito, who then referred the case to the Supreme Court. The Court denied vacating the stay. The only reaction reported was that Justice Sotomayor wrote a simple opinion that she hopes the Court of Appeals hears the case before the November election.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “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.
