One voting rights case denied
on Nov 13, 2012 at 9:46 am
The Supreme Court on Monday declined review of a second case testing the constitutionality of a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but the denial will have no effect on the Court’s coming review of that issue. Last Friday, the Court agreed to hear a case from Shelby County, Ala. On Monday, it denied certiorari in a case presenting the same issue from Kinston, N.C. — very likely because the lower court had ruled that case to be moot. Lawyers for the challengers had attempted to revive the case, but the Justices apparently found their argument unpersuasive. That case was Nix v. Holder (12-81).
In the only other noteworthy action on Monday, the Justices engaged in a dispute over a order issued in mid-October delaying the execution of a Texas inmate, Anthony Cardell Haynes. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, defended the stay order, while Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr., objected. The dueling opinions were issued in Haynes v. Thaler (12-6760). Justice Sotomayor wrote that the stay was appropriate because the Court recently agreed in another Texas case (Trevino v. Thaler, 11-10189) to rule on the legal issue in the Haynes case. The dissenters objected that in their view any ruling in the Trevino case could ultimately provide no benefit to Mr. Haynes and that as a result his long-pending execution should not be delayed.
