The refusal triggered multiple dissents from some of the court’s conservative justices who said Pennsylvania’s three-day extension for 2020 mail-in ballots raised important constitutional questions.
A Luzerne County worker canvases ballots on Nov. 6 until the closing of voting at 5 p.m. that evening for votes postmarked by Nov. 3, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
WASHINGTON (CN) Three conservative justices of the U.S. Supreme Court objected Monday as their colleagues refused this morning to wade into a challenge over Pennsylvania’s three-day extension of the deadline for voters to mail in their ballots for the 2020 election.
“These cases provide us with an ideal opportunity to address just what authority nonlegislative officials have to set election rules, and to do so well before the next election cycle. The refusal to do so is inexplicable,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.
WHYY
By
Rep. Madeleine Dean (left) and Bruce Castor (Matt Slocum and Matt Rourke/AP Photo)
When former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins in the Senate today, two of the people in the middle of the action will have a common connection: Montgomery County.
Impeachment manager Madeleine Dean, a congressional Democrat, will try to make the case that Trump directly incited violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump attorney Bruce Castor, the Republican former county DA and commissioner, will argue that Trump can’t be convicted because he has already left office.
Although it’s a coincidence that they’re playing opposing roles in the impeachment, Castor and Dean’s joint presence is symbolic both of the outsize presence that counties like Montgomery have come to have in national politics, and of the changing fortunes of their respective political parties.