Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Michael Kavanaugh: The media makes wagon rounds for conspiracy theorist Neera Tanden. it dismayed conservatives this week when it cast what appears to be the decisive vote preventing the Supreme Court from initiating pro-Trump election demands.
Kavanaugh’s apparent breakup with the court’s three staunchest conservatives: the judges Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas Tribe Laurence: Judge Thomas is out of regime in the 2020 election The Supreme Court will not review electoral demands for the Pennsylvania Republican Party election. A powerful tool to take on the Supreme Court., Samuel Alito
Samuel AlitoLaurence Tribe: Judge Thomas is out of regime in the 2020 election The Supreme Court will not review electoral demands for the Pennsylvania Republican Party election. A powerful tool to take on the Supreme Court. i Neil Gorsuch
Neil Gorsuch: January 6 Case to End Senate Filibuster Laurence Tribe: Judge Thomas Out of Regime in 2020 Elections McConnell Supports Garland for Attorney General MORE – he seemed to take his colleagues by surprise and provoked anger among some of the political right who regarded the measure as an act of treason.
Thomas, in a dissent, said he was “baffled” by the court’s reluctance to take on the disputes, as four judges, including Kavanaugh, had pointed out in late October his view that pro-Trump challenges are likely they would win on appeal.
“It simply came to our notice then. We were unable to resolve this dispute before the election and therefore provide clear rules, “Thomas wrote in what some analysts saw as a veil to Kavanaugh.” Now we are once again failing to provide clear rules for future elections. The decision to leave the electoral law hidden under a shroud of doubt is disconcerting. “
Alito and Gorsuch wrote separate dissensions from the court’s denial on Monday, but made it clear they agreed with Thomas. The dissenting judges indicated that the disputes would not have altered the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
As is common practice, the judges did not provide the public with a complete view of how they voted on the petitions or their reasoning. But the dissents of Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch strongly suggested that Kavanaugh lose the urge to participate in electoral disputes.
If so, Kavanaugh’s vote this week marked an investment over his previous stance. In the run-up to the November election, he joined Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch in supporting the Pennsylvania Republicans in their emergency bid to withdraw election accommodations that Trump alleged were illegal.
Anthony Sanders of the Libertarian Institute for Justice, a litigation firm, said conservative judges’ dissent appeared to be directed at Kavanaugh’s apparent flip-flop.
“Today, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch seem pretty“ baffled ”and“ baffled ”by Judge Kavanaugh,” Sanders wrote on Twitter. “He voted with them to present a case on the scope of the ‘legislative clause’ last fall, but he is strangely absent from the granting of certificates in the Pennsylvania case.”
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board also called Kavanaugh directly in an article rehearsing the court for not ending what it called “electoral anarchy.”
“[W]here came Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as it was the fourth vote in October? “wrote the editorial board.
In their petition, Pennsylvania Republicans argued that the U.S. Constitution gives state lawmakers sole authority over elections in Keystone State. If the judges accepted this view, it would mean that pandemic-era accommodations, such as the extended mail vote launched by the secretary of state, would be unconstitutional.
Kavanaugh, in October, was sympathetic to this argument. After the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: McConnell supports Garland as attorney general. A powerful tool to take on the Supreme Court. If Democrats do well, Fauci says he was nervous about catching COVID-19 in Trump’s White House, Kavanaugh joined the three Conservative court advocates, siding with the Pennsylvania GOP to stop the new voting rules. The court’s 4-4 tie left the accommodations intact during the Nov. 6 election.
Some see a connection between Kavanaugh’s change of heart on Monday and the Jan. 6 insurgency at the Capitol that was fueled by Trump’s electoral misinformation.
Julie Kelly, a fierce Trump advocate and self-described “agitator,” accused Trump-appointed Kavanaugh of cowardice under pressure from Democrats and the media.
“It can only be assumed that since Kavanaugh changed his pre-election position in Pennsylvania, threats to promote a‘ big lie ’about election fraud reached him,” Kelly wrote in the harsh publication American Greatness.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert and law professor at the University of California Irvine, offered two assumptions as to why the court avoided knowing the election demands. Either the judges lost interest in the disputes as they are now debatable, he said, or the court moved away because Trump’s cases are seen as “a bit radioactive.”
“Given earlier President Trump
Donald TrumpNoem defends response to South Dakota coronavirus, blocks CPAC speech On The Trail: Cuomo and Newsom: a story of two fit governors McCarthy: “I’d bet on my house” GOP recovers lower house in 2022 MOREContinued false statements that the elections were stolen, the case would become another vehicle to argue that the election results were illegitimate, “Hasen wrote on the electoral law blog. “It would put the court back in the spotlight on an issue that the judges repeatedly showed they wanted to avoid.”
After Trump’s election defeat, he and his allies amassed an abysmal record in court as they tried to undermine President Biden
Joe BidenNoem announces response to South Dakota coronavirus, blocks CPAC speech On The Trail: Cuomo and Newsom: A story of two conflicting governors, Biden celebrates vaccine approval, but warns that “current improvement could reverse “MOREwins through post-election demands. So far, the Supreme Court has refused to adopt about a dozen of these cases.
In all, the court on Monday denied appeals to eight election lawsuits filed by Trump or his allies. Many of the lawsuits urged judges to clarify the legal gray area over which branch of state government has the power to administer elections.
However, the court has not completely cleared its post-election litigation record. Judges on Friday are scheduled to discuss a challenge to Trump in Wisconsin’s postal voting policy and Kavanaugh could face renewed pressure to hear the case.