Every post published in August 2012, most recent first.
Yesterday a three-judge U.S. District Court in Washington relied on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act – the constitutionality of which the Court is likely to review in the upcoming Term – to bar Texas from enforcing its photo ID requirement for voters in this fall’s upcoming election.
The Supreme Court on Friday added two more cases for decision in the coming Term, one involving attempts to block federal court review of a class action lawsuit, the other involving the power of a federal court to correct flaws in a state prosecution for burglary.
The Obama Administration notified the Supreme Court Friday afternoon that it will shortly file two more requests — in cases from New England and New York — for the Justices to rule on the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
UPDATE 8:30 p.m. After an afternoon hearing, the three-judge District Court in San Antonio ruled that the existing temporary maps for the congressional and legislative districts will be in place for the November election.
Editor’s note: During the Supreme Court’s summer recess, the blog is publishing a series of posts that explain, in non-legal terms, some of the most important cases that will be decided in the new Term that starts October 1. This is another in that series.
Tuesday’s decision by a three-judge U.S. District Court in Washington to deny preclearance for Texas’s new election maps continues to draw coverage. Greg Abbott, the Attorney General of Texas, has promised to appeal immediately to the Supreme Court, as Lyle reported for this blog yesterday.
Treating Texas’s photo ID requirement for voters as “the most stringent in the country,” a three-judge U.S. District Court in Washington on Thursday barred the state from enforcing it.
UPDATED Wednesday a.m. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced he will take “immediate steps” to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.
All sides in a Supreme Court case over the fate of a Florida man’s floating home — now destroyed — urged the Justices on Tuesday to go ahead and decide the case.
As Lyle reported for this blog, yesterday a three-judge U.S. district court in Washington relied on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act – the constitutionality of which the Court is expected to address in the upcoming Term – to deny clearance for Texas’s new election maps.