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Election Law @ Moritz

Election Law @ Moritz


Litigation

Harkless v. Blackwell

Case Information

Date Filed / Ended: September 21, 2006 / February 3, 2009
State: Ohio
Issue: Voter Registration
Courts that Heard this Case: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Case 1:06-cv-02284-PAG); U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit (Case 07-3829)

Issue:

Whether Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and other state officials have violated the National Voter Registration Act by failing to make voter registration applications available at certain social service agencies.

Status:

Motion to Dismiss Granted 12/28/06. Motion for Reconsideration of Opinion filed 1/12/07.  Appeal filed 6/6/07.    Opinion Reversing and Remanding entered on 10/28/08.  Motion to extend time to file petition for rehearing en banc filed 11/7/08.  Motion granted 11/14/08.

Court of Appeals Documents

  • BRIEFING LETTER SENT setting briefing schedule: appellant brief due 8/7/07 ; appellee brief due 9/10/07 ; reply brief due 9/27/07; appendix due 10/4/07 ; all final briefs due 10/25/07 (entered 6/28/07)
  • Briefing Letter Sent by CONFERENCE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE resetting briefing schedule: appellant brief now due 8/21/07 ; appellee brief due 9/24/07; reply due 10/11/07; joint appendix due 10/18/07; all finals due 11/8/07 (entered 7/9/07)
  • Statement of Issues (filed 7/12/07) [not available].
  • Briefing Letter Sent by CONFERENCE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE resetting briefing schedule: appellant brief now due 9/24/07 ; appellee brief now due 10/29/07 ; reply brief now due 11/15/07; appendix now due 11/26/07 ; all final briefs now due 12/17/07 (entered 8/7/07)
  • BRIEFING LETTER SENT resetting briefing schedule: appellant brief now due 10/26/2007. appellee brief now due 12/10/2007. joint appendix now due 01/04/2008. final appellant brief now due 01/24/2008. final appellee brief now due 01/24/2008 (entered 10/11/07)
  • APPELLANT PROOF BRIEF (filed 10/29/07) [not available]
  • AMICUS BRIEF filed by Mr. Dirk C. Phillips PDF (filed 11/7/07)
  • APPELLEE PROOF BRIEF (filed 12/12/07) [not available]
  • Appellant MOTION to extend time to file brief (filed 1/14/08) [not available]
  • LETTER SENT granting motion to extend time to file brief (entered 1/16/08) [not available]
  • PROOF REPLY BRIEF filed by Appellants (filed 1/22/08)
  • APPELLEE PROOF BRIEF (filed 2/1/08)
  • APPELLEE FINAL BRIEF (filed 2/5/08)
  • APPELLEE FINAL BRIEF (filed 2/19/08)
  • FINAL REPLY BRIEF PDF (filed 2/19/08)
  • Oral argument date set for 9:00 a.m. June 12, 2008 PDF (4/11/08)
  • Oral argument acknowledgement filed by Attorney Mr. Henry G. Appel for Appellee Helen E. Jones-Kelley . [07-3829, 07-4165] (filed 4/22/08)
  • Oral argument acknowledgement filed by Attorney Mr. Neil A. Steiner for Appellants Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Tameca Mardis and Carrie Harkless. [07-3829, 07-4165] (filed 4/22/08)
  • Oral argument acknowledgement filed by Attorney Mr. Michael D. Meuti for Appellee Jennifer Brunner. [07-3829, 07-4165] (filed 4/22/08)
  • CAUSE ARGUED by Mr. Neil A. Steiner for Appellants Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. (filed 6/12/08)
  • OPINION filed: REVERSED and REMANDED PDF (entered 10/28/08)
  • JUDGMENT: REVERSED and REMANDED PDF (enterd 10/28/08)
  • MOTION to extend time to file petition for rehearing en banc PDF (filed 11/7/08)
  • RULING granting motion to extend time to 11/25/2008 to file a petition for rehearing en banc PDF(entered 11/14/08)
  • MANDATE ISSUED PDF(entered 2/3/09)

District Court Documents

Top 10 Election Issues

Commentary

Daniel P. Tokaji

A Poster Child for Dysfunctional Districting

Daniel P. Tokaji

 

Fifty years ago next month, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Baker v. Carr (1962), inaugurating the “reapportionment revolution” which led to the redrawing of legislative districts across the country. This milestone provides the opportunity to reflect not only on what has been accomplished, but also on what still needs to be done.

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In the News

Daniel P. Tokaji

This week: Bama voting rights case in DC courtroom on Thursday

Professor Daniel Tokaji, a senior fellow at Election Law @ Moritz, was quoted by The Birmingham News in an article about a local county's crusade to end 47 years of federal government oversight of its election returns.

Shelby County is hoping a federal appeals court will agree that the county no longer needs the U.S. Justice Department to approve changes in the ways elections are conducted because the area has progressed from its discriminatory past. It is unclear whether the case would be the vehicle with which justices of the U.S. Supreme Court would review the constitutionality of Section 5.

"I am reasonably confident they're going to take up the question of Section 5 constitutionality within the next few years," Tokaji said. "It could be Shelby County, it could be South Carolina, or some other."

more EL@M in the news...

Info & Analysis

Edward B. Foley

Federal Court Finds Equal Protection Violation

In the Hunter case, involving provisional ballots in a local Ohio election from 2010, the federal district court has ordered that ballots must be counted if they are otherwise eligible if they were miscast because of poll worker error. 

more info & analysis...