Pennsylvania – Don’t Assume Alito Giving Until 12/9 To Respond To Emergency Application Means He’s Letting It Die On the Vine (Update)
More likely, Alito’s action means he and some other Justices take the matter seriously, and plan to rule on the merits once the opposition is submitted.
UPDATE 12/6: Pennsylvania: Alito Moves Up Response Date on Emergency Application To 12/8
Prior Coverage:
On December 1, 2020, we covered an emergency application for injunctive relief sought to halt any further actions by Pennsylvania to certify the election, Pennsylvania: Emergency Injunction Sought From SCOTUS To Halt Any Further Certification Actions.
See that post for background on the case, and my admittedly pessimistic assessment.
Another Emergency Application, substantially similar, was filed yesterday, December 3. That made no sense to me, why would they file twice?
I spoke to an attorney handling the case, and the explanation is that the first filing took place prior to a stay being sought from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which issued the decision at issue. Out of concern that the US Supreme Court might deny the stay on the procedural ground that a request had not been made to the state court, the attorneys waited for the PA Supreme Court predictably to deny the stay, and then refiled on December 3.
According to the Supreme Court docket, Justice Alito, who covers the Third Circuit, gave Pennsylvania and the other Respondents until next Wednesday to file responses.
Response to application (20A98) requested by Justice Alito, due Wednesday, December 9, by 4 p.m.
There is a lot of chatter that such a long period of time, under the circumstances, must be a way for Alito to let the application die on the vine, that the application would be “moot” or otherwise pushing it off to make meaningful relief impossible. Certainly, we can’t read Alito’s mind, but if there’s anyone on SCOTUS I don’t worry about playing such games, it’s Alito (and Thomas, too early to tell for Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, or Barrett).
In my mind-reading exercise, Alito giving the respondents’ enough time to fully prepare opposition likely means he and some other Justices take the matter seriously, and plan to rule on the merits once the opposition is submitted, rather than limiting their ruling to emergency injunctive relief. They could treat the Emergency Application as a Petition for Certiorari, accept it, and rule substantively. The few days gives the Justice enough time to prepare their respective opinions — it’s not like they really need briefs from the respondents to know the counter-arguments.
What that ultimate merits ruling would be remains to be seen. In my prior post, I was very pessimistic that SCOTUS would take the case or rule in a way that would change the state result. That’s not to say that what the PA Supreme Court did was right — it wasn’t and that PA Court has acted more like a litigant throughout this process. Mark Levin’s Landmark Legal Foundation has filed an Amicus Brief laying out the defects with the PA Supreme Court ruling.
The issue I keep coming back to is what is the remedy. SCOTUS could rule that the non-absentee mail-in votes were unlawful, and order that PA certify the vote and appoint electors based on the lawful vote only. That seems to be the only remedy to grant relief that works under the timeline for selecting the electoral college. (Denying the Application of course also is a possiblity.) Kicking the matter over the the PA legislature to select electors could be an alternative though less timely, but again, it would require disqualifying the mail-in vote as unlawful.
Would SCOTUS take such a step? It would mean that millions of voters who honestly thought they were lawfully voting would not have their votes counted. Don’t think for a second that the Justices don’t understand the political implications or are not sensitive to them.
I think we’ll find out one way or the other, but I don’t think Justice Alito is playing games to allow the case to die on the vine.
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Comments
Either something is Constitutional or not. I cannot understand how disenfranchising voters is EVEN considered at this level. That’s a political problem for PA and their voters to address. Not the court. This is insane. This is the hill. If SCOTUS allows Biden to slip in… it’s over. Rule of law? hahahahahaa.
That’s a political problem for PA and the the people who illegally changed the voting regulations to illegally count illegal mail-in votes to address.
RobM and Elric, you’re absolutely right. It will be the powers that be in PA who will have disenfranchised their voters, not the Supreme Court. It was they who cooked up the scheme by which a flood of illegal or unsecure ballots might be considered and counted. It’s that action that caused the unconstitutional disenfranchisement of voters.
The Constitution does not take a holiday, much less a sabbatical, on such fundamental questions as the continuation of the Republic.
We should be a country of laws, not of shenanigans.
Personally I think SCOTUS should send a letter to everyone in PA:
“We at SCOTUS would just like to say that if you’re angry with our decision you need to redirect your anger to your state government. They are the ones who screwed you over with their incompetence (Republicans) and outright trying to steal the election (Democrats). Thank you.”
Yeah I know it will never happen but it would be the truth. It’s the state governments fault the election was a sham. SCOTUS is just cleaning up the mess.
Profiles on parade,
— of courage
— or of putty
Make the prediction, LI readers.
Putty for Breyer, Kagan, Roberts & Play-Doh for the Wide Latina, with some sort of insipid talk,
“The Court should not upset the political order”
Don’t expect different from Roberts, Kavanaugh, ACB and Gorsuch
“Don’t Assume Alito Giving Until 12/9… Means He’s Letting It Die On the Vine”
Right… because the breathtaking procession of actual, identifiable lawbreakers being arrested, indicted, tried, convicted, and imprisoned one after the other has been occurring at such a dizzying pace for the past several weeks that I have become mentally fatigued and generally overwhelmed by all this winning.
Let’s slow down out there, Justices!
If Biden and Harris are ‘sworn in’ as President and VP, they will be illegitimately in office, and they will be treated as such.
In other words, we will not have a president or vice president. Chaos will ensue.
Good. Let’s get it over with and get back our country, or split it up already, and we can live happily, safely, and flourish – unlike the hell-hole our country has become because of our COMPLETELY corrupt government.
Any GOPe hacks who try and follow us into the New America: slam the door in their treasonous faces. Let Boehner and Barr live in the hellhole that will be the Left America: they created it.
No splitting up the country; that’s what gave the world Pakistan and Bangladesh. Let those dissatisfied with life in America migrate to friendlier nations.
It’ll never happen. There will either be the USA or the USSA and The Republic of Texas (+ friends). And the idiots that want the United Socialist States of America are dumb enough to think they will actually win.
Which is a neat trick since “the right” has all the guns…..
I don’t think you understand: the left is trying to CONQUER us.
They see control of our government as if it were a stuffed turkey to rip into.
They’re not going anywhere.
I don’t think you understand my comment (I could be mistaken)…. The right (i.e. Our Side) has all the guns. This will be a short war.
This is a false argument. We don’t have all the guns on the right. The left has plenty of guns, plenty of access to guns if they need them, and plenty of leftists willing to use those guns.
It’s also been rumored that there are stockpiles of weapons in various cities by leftists for their “revolution” one day.
I think you’re conflating liberals, who tend to be anti-gun, with leftists. Leftists are not anti-gun. They are all for having the guns. Leftists just don’t want you to have a gun because it makes their fantasy of ruling over you harder.
So it wouldn’t be a short war. It would be a bloody nasty fight with a lot of pain and death on both sides.
Agree with TOZ… As Maoist they know where power ultimately comes from. As proven in this election, they already have a network of communication and the switch on-switch off Antifa riots also show this. That said, the longer that the Left is in power they can strip away rights and the less opposition they will have to overcome. They BELIEVE in their cause with a zealot intensity. No quarter…no regret. 100 million lost to their ideology and they still think they are better. Guns are not talismans. What is needed is the equivalent of the Minuteman ..well regulated and willing to go full Thomas Jackson. Tall order.
And if they own the White House, they have access to some really big guns.
We are no outnumbered by population of supporters, but we are outnumbered by the swamp rats in power in our government.
That said, it’s interesting to see the number of California sheriff’s telling Newsom to go f–k himself.
If the sh-t hit the fan, it’s starting to become apparent much of law enforcement will not side with the swamp.
The only question is whether our military has been infested with enough quislings like Mattis and company. There seems to be a lot of ‘company’ for Mattis.
Where is Curtis LeMay when you need him?
Swamp generals:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/more-200-retired-generals-admirals-endorse-biden-including-some-who-n1240842
I prefer population reduction over giving up territory. Either deportation or termination.
Think this trough, we would have productive people, they would have hordes of unproductive people who feel entitled to take from us. We would represent constant strife, like Israel has with Arab squatters. They made a huge mistake when they failed to completely pacify their enemies.
RE: “squatters”
Describes Democrats perfectly……
Cockroaches describes them better. It also describes the GOP.
“It would mean that millions of voters who honestly thought they were lawfully voting would not have their votes counted.”
This argument assumes that the votes were valid. While assuming some votes were valid, it can also be assumed that tens of thousands of those votes were fraudulent. Many of those blank ballots never reached the intended voter and many of the marked ballots never made it back to the polls.
RobM is correct: That’s a political problem for PA and their voters to address.
Stablesort: did not mean to hit the thumbs down button; just too close to reply button.
Agree with your comment, and add: it could also mean millions of voters did not actually vote, and their votes which are thus illegitimate would not be counted, and what is wrong with that???
Accepting any fraudulent votes, even one is a sin against the integrity of each voter’s legitimate vote, and that is what counts in a valid election. Tossing invalid, illegal votes is a statement of voting integrity no matter what.
Even if you get PA and GA Biden still has the votes to be Prezbo junior. This should be an across the board that if your state didn’t follow your own voting laws you forfeit your electoral votes.
They better.
Especially as normal and informed citizens they should also know all about these issues in this election.
Just Stunning: Georgia Secretary of State Hired Dominion-Linked Firm to Conduct Audit of Dominion Voting Systems
BREAKING: Arizona’s Legislative Leaders Call For Audit of Maricopa County Dominion Election Software and Equipment
UPDATE: More on the Suitcase Vote Scam, the Elections Supervisor and that Strange “Pass” Between Mother and Daughter That Was Also Caught on Video
BREAKING: Crooked Operative Filmed Pulling Out Suitcases of Ballots in Georgia IS IDENTIFIED
Gateway Pundit
OT but is this any where possible in the DC Looney Tunes land?
Fellow DC Federal Judge Signals Emmet Sullivan May Challenge Flynn Pardon
Oh and BTW….
Pelosi Admits She Deliberately Sent Millions Into Poverty by Holding Up Covid Relief For Political Reasons – (VIDEO)
Gateway Pundit.
Draw your own conclusions about this:
https://mobile.twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1334946084158922753
I had always thought that Warnock stood a chance of beating Loeffler in the Senate runoff in Georgia. Warnick is the kind of race-baiting lunatic the Karens would vote for to assuage their white guilt.
But now I wonder if Perdue will also crash and burn, delivering both Senate seats to the Communists.
Appears the answer is in the video.
It’s already a done “rigged” deal.
Lady Justice is gonna burst out with a running chain saw soon!
Snark snark.
Chief Justice John Roberts is working hard to make himself irrelevant.
Sadly, that happened the day he was born.
If Epstein’s vaults tucked away of underage girl porn have anyone co-starring in them, it must be Roberts.
If this guy isn’t being extorted, Boehner is Navy seal and Barr is Rudy Guiliani.
Roberts is being extorted. Just like Boehner was. And probably Barr as well.
as long as he has a SCOTUS vote he will be relevant
Been visiting this blog since it’s beginning or very shortly after at least twice a day if not more. Yet nothing glazes my eyes over faster than trying to read or figure out written law. Wish I could figure it out.
Skip, I work (IT) for a law firm that has 80+ lawyers. I’m literally surrounded by legalese every single day; And I still can’t make head or tails out of most of it.
Read the comments. You’ll get a lot out of them.
And ask a question – someone will answer it.
Honestly?
With all of the backstabbing by the GOPe gimps, I honestly feel like this is going to end with the SCOTUS either declaring the Pennsylvania election invalid, or directing the legislature to vote and give the votes, and the GOP simps are going to give it to Biden.
They think they’re better off without Trump, and have proven that they’re willing to excuse utterly disgusting behavior by Democrats if it means getting rid of Trump.
I, personally, will never, EVER vote straight ticket Republican again.
I’d love to see this thrown to Congress and to witness your exact scenario play out. Then everyone, especially the conservative and libertarian groups, will finally see the Truth.
The GOP needs to be destroyed, and relegated as a party of corrupt hack with NO VOTER BASE.
We need to form a third party. I’ll bet Trump does it. And if he does, the GOP will be as empty as a restaurant in California.
I was not a Trump supporter in 2016. I was an anti-Hillary supporter. Back then, Trump was simply the “other choice”. My opinion has since changed; Trump won me over. Today, I would gladly join the MAGA (or whatever) party with Trump as it’s head.
Trump will be in jail as soon as he leaves office. The swamp will not let his interloping go unpunished
Is it not the Citizens of the various States of the Nation of the United States of America who actually have the power (of The People, by The People, for The People)? If so, then I submit that discarding an illegally cast vote, regardless of whether the voter believed that their voting method was valid or not, is a non-issue and is ultimately the voter’s fault.
It was THEIR responsibility to ensure that they voted in a legal and constitutional (State or National) manner. If they did not do so, then I disagree that it “disenfranchises” them. They made their choice to violate the rules. Either by not choosing to accept the lie told by their legislature or by failing to educating themselves on the legal and constitutional process (same thing really).
Hex, I always vote in person precisely because the trend to expand the voting, And voting methods have been adopted to assist the democrats in committing voter fraud.
It’s my belief that if 95% of Americans voted on election day itself The legislatures would begin reining in the extended voting, That is causing so many problems by design.
Each of us should commit to voting on election day without fail. Change the culture one vote at a time.
Also, point this out to your friends, and urge them to vote on election day only in person. And to never request an absentee ballot.
That is exactly the point I was attempting to make.
If you had one man to determine your destiny, would it be Samuel Alito, or that idiot Fauci?
Neither. I’m an American. It should and will be ME that determines my destiny. Hopefully without having to injurekill anyone or die myself, but the Tree needs watering.
It’s sad to be pessimistic, but we have to face reality: we really are facing a civil war.
Our government just told us who our President is going to be and they could care less what we think about it.
Giving 80 million blank ballots to the post office is absolute proof of fraud; there is no way to verify who received, who marked or who returned all those ballots.
All the ballots that left the election official’s chain-of-custody, no matter why, no matter where, no matter how long, are invalid ballots. I could care less what the election officials, the politicians or the courts say about it.
Voting is done in person on hand marked paper ballots, each and every ballot is witnessed as it is given to a voter, marked by that voter and everybody knows that’s how elections are done.
We don’t trust mailing lists given to mailing services along with our ballots, we don’t trust public employee unions with our ballots, we don’t trust dirty voter registration lists, we don’t trust ballot drop-boxes on our street corners, we don’t trust electronic voting and we certainly don’t trust a government that would even suggest using any of the above.
Many of us have served in war time, facing imminent death 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 per year to preserve our right to vote for our government. So COVID-19 is NO excuse to avoid the polls.
This election is a complete fraud and it cannot be cured. The Constitution provides for this emergency and that provision is for the federal house to elect our President and the federal senate to elect the Vice President.
What we cannot allow is for this fraud to stand.
Many people on our side of things, will not be pushed into action until they start getting midnight knocks on the door from the biden/harris FBI under that incredible traitor, Wray.
People should the movie “The Pianist”, again (or if they haven’t seen it).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFwGqLa_oAo
Especially the part where Jews are dragged out of their homes in the middle of dinner only to disappear or be killed.
The tree of liberty needs watering with its natural manure.
Of what possible relevance is “honestly thought”? As an analogy, plenty of people honestly purchase goods only to find out that said goods were the proceeds of theft. They must nevertheless return those goods to the rightful owner and are not compensated for what they paid.
There must be no profit from cheating, or it will ramp up even more every cycle. Think about this – we’re OK with letting a murderer go free if the prosecution obtains evidence illegally because that is the only way to dis-incentivize the police and prosecution. So far, it seems that there are many many ways to commit fraud and almost no way to unwind it. That is a mighty big profit for committing the fraud. There are no consequences really to anyone for doing it, so it’s all gain no pain. A low-risk heist of the country.
in football, when a penalty is call by officials, the clock is stopped until the officials can sort out the situation and decide the issue
if they can stop the clock for a damned game, shouldn’t it be possible to stop the clock(or reset the clock)in probably the most important ” game ” on this planet? in fairness to EVERYONE?
Unfortunately, hard deadlines are wired into the constitution.
Every member of SCOTUS just witnessed the most devious and open assault on America in history. They should put an end to this now (Bush v Gore)and declare Trump the winner. Otherwise, they willingly allow the US to become another Venezuela.
SCOTUS has overturned Obama with more unanimous 9-0 decisions than any president in modern American history. Obama 44; Clinton 31; GW Bush 30. His own SCOTUS justices saw through his activist judges… but, throw a hundred pounds of crap on the ceiling and see what sticks
So, the argument against SCOTUS action is that “millions of voters who honestly thought they were lawfully voting would not have their votes counted.” Really? What about the many more million voters across the country who lawfully voted to elect Trump? Is it ok that their votes don’t count in order to protect the results of an unconstitutional system in Pennsylvania? If the Pennsylvania legislature won’t fix this, SCOTUS must. Otherwise, we will have civil war and a packed SCOTUS. The experiment in democracy should end to protect an unconstitutional vote in Pennsylvania? I don’t believe SCOTUS is that spineless.
isn’t SCOTUS bound to employ due dilligence and consider all the evidence before ruling?
seems this whole process is geared to ” technically ” running out the clock–why?
surely in a matter of this magnitude, it’s prudent for anyone(let alone SCOTUS)to pause and review the evidence–isn’t there some legal mechanism through which the whole process may be ” paused?”–so we don’t select electors by the due date, so what?–isn’t it more important to the entire country to determine the authentic results of a presidential election?–what else on the docket could be MORE important than confirming the ” election ” was in fact fairly and honestly conducted?–do the Justices really want to wake-up tomorrow morning in America or some third-world banana republic?
lord
Not trying to give the Dems too much credit, but Podesta and company Sarbanes this. The Party was able to flood the zone with all kinds of fraud and just eked by. They have plans to keep it that way. Reality has been suspended. My concern is that when faced with possibly the greatest Constitutional crisis yet , the judges may pass on this one thinking they can create patchwork stop gaps in the future. I hope they understand that their Court is in just as much danger as Trump’s election. The Left has made this judiciary the ultimate control of the country…for this once and hopefully not last time, the Court can use that power to save the country just short of CW2. My worry? Dred Scott 2.
voting in any form is a form of taxation thereby any form of voting is legal and constitutional.
Roberts…
On a honeymoon, the bridegroom eagerly awaited his new wife’s appearance from her dressing room into the bedroom.
When he say a big shlong where a vagina was supposed to be, would anyone recommend he merely say: “Gee, that’s not what I thought I got”, and undergo a biden/harris honeymoon?