A US district court judge denied a motion for a preliminary injunction Friday from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn to exempt its parishes from New York state’s restrictions on religious gatherings in coronavirus hotspots. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s public health order on October 6 shut down non-essential businesses and placed restrictions on gatherings [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday that it will execute two federal inmates, Brandon Bernard and Lisa Montgomery, in December. Montgomery was convicted for her part in a premeditated murder-kidnap scheme where she fatally strangled a pregnant woman named Bobbie Jo Stinnett, cut her open, and then kidnapped her baby. Her lawyers argued [...]
The US Supreme Court issued an order Friday granting an accelerated argument schedule for a case challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from census counts for allocating congressional seats. At the behest of President Donald Trump, the Census Bureau began exploring ways to determine the number of undocumented immigrants in each state [...]
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling Thursday denying an extension to Arizona’s mail-in ballot deadline for members of the Navajo Nation. Six members of the Navajo tribe filed the lawsuit in the federal district court for the district of Arizona on August 26, alleging that Arizona’s requirement that mail-in ballots be [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued an opinion on Wednesday denying preliminary injunctions in two cases, both of which sought to prevent the enforcement of memos released by the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) pertaining to absentee voting. Both cases, Moore v. Circosta and [...]
A US federal judge on Wednesday denied a conservative group’s request to block five Wisconsin cities from accepting grants to help pay for the upcoming election. The grants, which total over $6 million, were awarded by the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to the cities of Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee and Racine to help [...]
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld Tennessee’s signature matching requirement for absentee voters. Plaintiffs argued that Tennessee’s signature verification process violates both their First Amendment and procedural due process rights. As a result, they sought an injunction that would require election officials to provide absentee voters notice and an opportunity to cure any ballot [...]
A federal appeals court has ended the extension for voter registration in Arizona. The original voter registration cutoff date for the presidential election was October 5, 2020. However, due to COVID-19, plaintiffs’ registration efforts were halted because of state-mandated shutdowns. Despite the halt in government, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs did not extend the voter [...]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Thursday from outside witnesses on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. The final day started with a battle between parties. Senate Republicans pushed to have Barrett’s vote for nomination next week, on October 22 at 1 PM while the Democrats argued this violated committee rules. [...]
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that Texas federal courts potentially have the authority to change the election policy allowing poll workers to forgo wearing facial coverings. A Texas voting rights group originally brought the lawsuit against Governor Greg Abbott in July. The group argued that Texas’ [...]
