And Kennedy decides to fuck us all

[Big RR]

This could lead to an interesting showdown, what if the legislature, and/or governor and/or state courts ignore the federal rulings? Could lead to a major Constitutional Crisis; how many divisions does the Supreme Court have? I sincerely hope they do nor embark down this road.

[Sue U]

Seems like just yesterday morning I said:

Remember "federalism"? Hahahahahaha, now the federal courts -- stocked by Mitch McConnell with Federalist Society/GOP apparatchiks, right up to the Supremes -- are gonna tell you exactly what your state constitution and laws mean, regardless of what your elected state judiciary says about it, because whatever the law is, it is properly interpreted to mean that Republicans win, always:

And what do you know? Right on cue an 8th Circuit panel comes out with with a 2-1 decision telling Minnesota exactly how it needs to not count ballots received after election day, even though the MN Secretary of State issued rules (previosuly agreed to by the state GOP!!) extending the "receipt" deadline for mailed-in votes to Nov. 10 due to the pandemic and issues with postal service delivery. The federal court did this five days before the election. Citing as authority Kavanaugh's disingenuous and idiotic concurrence issued three days earlier. Violating every norm of federalism and "judicial restraint" to put their thumb on the scale. The two judges rendering the decision are (naturally) GOP appointees -- one by Trump and one by GW Bush. This is the radical right-wing politicization of the federal courts that McConnell and the GOP have been working on for 20 years in order to guarantee a judiciary that will back minority rule.

Well, U.S. democracy has had a pretty good run, but nothing lasts forever.

From WaPo:

Under a federal appeals court panel decision issued Thursday evening, Minnesotans must return mail-in ballots by Tuesday to ensure they are counted, upending plans the state had advertised to keep counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day for another week.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit said a Republican lawmaker and GOP activist could challenge the state’s plans to keep counting ballots after the election — and predicted those received after Election Day could ultimately be invalidated, sending Democrats scrambling to warn voters.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) urged constituents not to mail their ballots at all, tweeting: “Because of LAST MINUTE ruling, Minnesota DO NOT put ballots in mail any more....Vote in-person or take mail-in ballot directly to ballot box.”

In a statement, Trump campaign spokeswoman Thea McDonald called the decision a major victory.

***

The 2-to-1 decision issued Thursday voided part of a consent decree approved after a citizen’s group had challenged the state’s counting timeline. Both Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota had agreed to the seven-day grace period in counting absentee ballots.

But the federal court panel strongly condemned the decision-making process, saying lower courts had gone too far in assessing that Minnesota’s legislature had delegated authority to the secretary of state to change election practices to deal with emergencies.They strongly suggested Republicans were likely to prevail and have any votes received after Election Day invalidated.

“Simply put, the Secretary has no power to override the Minnesota Legislature,” the opinion states. “However well-intentioned and appropriate from a policy perspective in the context of a pandemic during a presidential election . . . there is no pandemic exception to the Constitution.”

Under the ruling, Democrats warned that Minnesotans can only be sure the state can accept absentee ballots received by mail by 8 p.m. on Election Day — or before 3 p.m. if voters deliver them in person.

***

Judge Bobby Shepherd, an appointee of President George W. Bush, and Judge L. Steven Grasz, appointed by Trump, formed the majority. Judge Jane Kelly, appointed by President Barack Obama, dissented.

[BoSoxGal]

From Marc Murphy, attorney-turned-political cartoonist.

How a coup happens in 2020. It takes years and it happens indoors. The End. The Courier Journal cartoon.