7th Circuit upholds Indiana’s process for extending polling hours
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the amended Indiana election law that prohibits individual voters from asking state courts to extend voting hours on Election Day.
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
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Democrats ask Pence to skip Barrett vote over COVID-19 risk
A deeply torn Senate is set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, but Democratic leaders are asking Vice President Mike Pence to stay away from presiding over Monday’s session due to potential health risks after his aides tested positive for COVID-19.
Federal prosecutor on deck to fill potential 7th Circuit vacancy
Thomas L. Kirsch II, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, has been nominated by the White House to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is in line to fill Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s seat on the appellate court if she is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
GOP-led Senate panel advances Barrett despite Democrats’ boycott
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate as Republicans powered past Democrats’ boycott of the session. A full Senate vote to confirm the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judge and Notre Dame law professor is scheduled Monday.
Barrett was trustee at private school with anti-gay policies
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served for nearly three years on the board of private Christian schools that effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren’t welcome in the classroom.
COA affirms reincarceration of man erroneously released years early
A man who was erroneously released from prison more than two years early must return to the Department of Correction after the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to adopt a doctrine that would award him credit for the time he was free.
Senate to work through weekend to push Barrett onto court
Wasting no time, the Senate is on track to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by next Monday, charging toward a rare weekend session as Republicans push past procedural steps to install President Donald Trump’s pick before Election Day.
Senate Judiciary sets Oct. 22 vote on Barrett’s nomination
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday set an Oct. 22 vote on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination as Republicans race to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick before the Nov. 3 election.
7th Circuit upholds noon Election Day deadline for receipt of absentee ballots
Absentee ballots received by local election officials after noon on Election Day will not be counted, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, reversing a lower court that had issued an injunction in light of likely mail slowdowns caused by a surge in mail-in voting due to the pandemic.
Fighting words: Pro se’s 20-year legal battle morphs into crusade over perceived unfairness
Peter Prostyakov, a native of Moscow who’s now a U.S. Citizen living in Carmel, details what he concedes is his convoluted journey into the federal judicial system, where he believes courts act unfairly toward him and other self-represented litigants.
Hoosiers give support to Barrett at confirmation hearing
Both Indiana Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun praised 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s intelligence, commitment to the law and love for her family during Monday’s opening round of her confirmation hearing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Wisconsin absentee case may be headed to SCOTUS after 7th Circuit ruling
Democrats and their allies said Tuesday they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether absentee ballots in battleground Wisconsin that are received up to six days after the election can be counted — a move being fought by Republicans who have opposed other attempts across the country to expand voting.
Barrett vows no ‘agenda’ on high court
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett is vowing to bring no “agenda” to the court, batting back senators’ questions Tuesday on abortion, gun rights and the November election, insisting she would take a conservative approach to the law but decide cases as they come.
Barrett vows to interpret laws ‘as they are written’
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett declared Monday that Americans “deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written,” encapsulating her conservative approach to the law that has Republicans excited about the prospect of her taking the place of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before Election Day.
7th Circuit fast-tracks appeal over noon Election Day deadline for receipt of absentee ballots
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has given parties just days to file briefs in an expedited appeal over a state law requiring election officials to receive absentee ballots by noon on Election Day. The court’s fast track positions it to rule on the matter just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election, while it issued a sharply divided opinion Thursday upholding a somewhat similar law in a Wisconsin case.
Politics has way of finding Supreme Court eager to avoid it
The Supreme Court might prefer to avoid politics, but politics has a way of finding the court.
High court nominee Barrett served as ‘handmaid’ in religious group
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served as a “handmaid,” the term then used for high-ranking female leaders in the People of Praise religious community, an old directory for the group’s members shows.
7th Circuit reverses stay of death row inmate’s federal execution
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a stay of execution for a Louisiana man scheduled to die by lethal injection in an Indiana federal prison, finding he does not meet the stringent requirements for savings-clause eligibility.
Democrats ask if more material omitted from Barrett response
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling on the Justice Department to provide any missing materials from a questionnaire completed by Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Confirmation hearings for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judge and Notre Dame law professor remain scheduled to begin next week.
7th Circuit affirms restrictions on absentee voting; judge stays injunction in noon deadline case
The effort to allow all Hoosiers to vote by absentee ballot in the November presidential election has been blocked by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals which, in an echo of the state’s argument, found Election Day is too close to make any changes now. In a separate case, a judge temporarily stayed pending appeal an order blocking an Indiana law that requires absentee ballots be received by noon to be counted.