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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 24d

The Trump administration is pressuring states to hand over sensitive information about voters. The Brennan Center is tracking the DOJ’s requests and how states respond. bit.ly/3JFbKaB

Tracker of Justice Department Requests for Voter Information

The Trump administration is pressing state officials to provide sensitive information about voters.

www.brennancenter.org

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 1d

There aren't many people in the country who know more about judicial elections than @douglaskeith.bsky.social @brennancenter.org. Read his analysis of the upcoming Pennsylvania Supreme Court election in @statecourtreport.org. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Everything You Need to Know About Next Month’s High-Stakes Supreme Court Elections in Pennsylvania

Three justices will face an up or down vote in November, the outcome of which is likely to impact the midterms.

statecourtreport.org

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 6d

Another big month for state supreme court oral arguments. Is there a constitutional right to record law enforcement? Can Texas seek information about PFLAG's membership? Can Michigan deny workers comp to undocumented immigrants? And much more... statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

State Court Oral Arguments to Watch for in October

Issues on the dockets include New York’s Voting Rights Act, investigations of gender-affirming care for minors, and Meta’s challenge to a disclosure law for political ads.

statecourtreport.org

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SXSW EDU @sxswedu.com · 6d

Hear from state constitution super-users @erings.bsky.social, Celina Stewart (@lwvus.bsky.social), @harperseldin.bsky.social (@aclu.org), and Julia Olson (@youthvgov.bsky.social), as they demonstrate how dynamic learning about state constitutions can be in their SXSW EDU Featured Session.

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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

State Court Report @statecourtreport.org · 8d

NEW: TX is asking NY courts to declare NY's reproductive health care shield law unconstitutional in an attempt to enforce its abortion ban across state lines. @law.ucla.edu's @lindsaywiley.bsky.social lays out a legal case for why NY (and other shield states) can and should reject such overreach.

New York Courts Should Reject Texas’s Attempt to Enforce its Abortion Ban Beyond its Borders

Precedent supports the refusal to enforce out-of-state civil judgments that punish an individual in the name of protecting the public.

statecourtreport.org

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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 10d

This year's Supreme Court term will be a historic one for the future of presidential power and our system of checks and balances. Join us on Sept. 30 at 3pm ET for a virtual event with experts and longtime Court watchers as they break down some of the major cases on the docket. RSVP: bit.ly/4nKeDFP

Democracy’s Day in Court

Supreme Court watchers preview pivotal cases on voting rights, fair representation, and presidential power.

www.brennancenter.org

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 11d

Once again SCOTUS erases Congress from our constitutional system.

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 11d

This is a ridiculously broad understanding of the President's foreign affairs powers -- that the Executive Branch experiences "harms to [its] conduct of foreign affairs" when it is must spend foreign aid money appropriated in a bill signed by the President. Whither Congress's power of the purse?

And, on the record before the Court, the asserted harms to the Executive’s conduct of foreign affairs appear to outweigh the potential harm faced by respondents.

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 11d

New book excerpt just dropped! Read Yale Professor Judith Resnik's trenchant account of the rise of the modern prison system. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Book Excerpt: Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy

The U.S. prison system violates democratic social orders aiming to lessen racist and class hierarchies. Its development was not inevitable.

statecourtreport.org

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State Court Report @statecourtreport.org · 11d

NEW: In 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled that federal courts have no authority to address partisan gerrymandering, shifting legal battles about the partisan effect of redistricting to the states. @aliciabannon.bsky.social examines the mixed results of these legal challenges.

The Next Round of Partisan Gerrymandering Fights

An unprecedented cycle of mid-decade redistricting highlights a state-by-state legal patchwork, with significant national implications.

statecourtreport.org

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 11d

NEW: I wrote about how SCOTUS's Rucho decision shifted partisan gerrymandering fights to state courts. The record is mixed (including recent divergent rulings in UT an SC) - and mid-decade redistricting is generating a whole new set of challenges.
statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

The Next Round of Partisan Gerrymandering Fights

An unprecedented cycle of mid-decade redistricting highlights a state-by-state legal patchwork, with significant national implications.

statecourtreport.org

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 13d

Excited that Slate co-published our latest @statecourtreport.org piece, about how state marijuana legalization is impacting search and seizure jurisprudence.

Slate @slate.com · 13d

The smell of marijuana on its own is no longer considered to be evidence of criminal activity in many jurisdictions. slate.trib.al/gvebUy3

Is the Smell of Weed Probable Cause for a Police Search? Not in These States.

Roughly 45 states and territories permit adults to use marijuana for medical purposes.

slate.trib.al

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Tom “T.M.” Wolf @tomtmwolf.bsky.social · 15d

Yup.

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 15d

You can read SCOTUS's order and Kagan's dissent here: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

www.supremecourt.gov

Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 15d

A huge case w/ the potential to reshape & expand presidential power. Note the sharp shadow docket critique from Justice Kagan: "Our emergency docket should never be used . . . to permit what our own precedent bars" or to "reshape the Nation’s separation of powers." www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...

Supreme Court takes up dispute over Trump's authority to fire FTC member

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a member of the Federal Trade Commission, will not remain in office while the case is being litigated.

www.nbcnews.com

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DeathNerd Killer @daphnek.bsky.social · 18d

This kind of repudiation of the Supreme Court by a state Supreme Court justice is very rare. But — speaking as a former Alaska Supreme Court clerk — this is also part of their structural purpose. There’s a reason our rights can be, and often are, given *better* protection under state constitutions.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 18d

Check out Justice Eddins’ complete repudiation of the Roberts Court here. It’s worth reading in full. It’s quite brave—and exceedingly rare—for a sitting judge to speak so candidly and scathingly about SCOTUS’ partisan contortions of law, history, and fact.
www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/u...

The Supreme Court devalues democracy. Thirty-seven state
constitutions block public funds from supporting religious
entities. Richard Schragger, Micah Schwartzman & Nelson Tebbe,
Reestablishing Religion, 92 U. Chi. L. Rev. 199, 211 (2025) .
The Court aims to federally-repeal these state constitutional
provisions.
The Court's beliefs meddle with local and state
governments. Forcing states to send public funds to religious
entities federalizes public policy. By unprincipled fiat. See
also New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n, Inc. v. Bruen, 597
U.S. 1 (2022) (zero to superpower).
Taxpayer funds now flow to religious institutions. So, the
government collects money from nonbelievers (under the threat of
jail), and uses some of it to support religion. And since not
all religions will receive public funds, the government forces
minority faiths to support other faiths, or else.
The Court twists text, history, purpose, precedent, and
public meaning to offend the First Amendment's character-of-
government structure and the Constitution's separate sovereignty
structure.
As it steamrolls both, the Court says nothing about church-
state separation and federalism principles. The Court's
nevermind stance to the structural features of the Constitution
"has unfolded with little engagement with, and occasional

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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

State Court Report @statecourtreport.org · 19d

Tort reform laws passed in the '80s & '90s capped damages in malpractice lawsuits and sparked hundreds of state constitutional challenges. As @aliciabannon.bsky.social explains, these “tort wars” transformed judicial elections and reshaped state courts. Learn more: go.statecourtreport.org/subscribe

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 19d

I hope you can join us at The Power of State Constitutional Rights, a symposium on Nov 6-7 in Chicago, organized by @brennancenter.org & Northwestern Law Review. We'll be hearing from judges, scholars and practitioners about the future of state con law. RSVP below! brennan.swoogo.com/stateconstit...

The Power of State Constitutional Rights

Judges, practitioners, and scholars explore critical issues facing state courts and constitutions.

brennan.swoogo.com

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Ohio Fair Courts Alliance @ohfaircourts.bsky.social · 20d

This is a fascinating story! @aliciabannon.bsky.social wrote about recent state con law challenges to tort reform in Ohio & N. Carolina and how business backlash to similar suits in the '90s helped lead to today’s politicized judicial elections.
statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

How the Tort Wars Became the Court Wars

Recent rulings in Ohio and North Carolina demonstrate divisions on medical malpractice damages caps.

statecourtreport.org

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 23d

NEW: I wrote about recent state con law challenges to tort reform in OH and NC and how business backlash to similar suits in the 90s helped lead to today’s politicized judicial elections. It’s a fascinating story. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

How the Tort Wars Became the Court Wars

Recent rulings in Ohio and North Carolina demonstrate divisions on medical malpractice damages caps.

statecourtreport.org

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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

State Court Report @statecourtreport.org · 27d

NEW: Five years on, courts are still weighing the constitutionality of state responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. @cisozaki.bsky.social kicks off her new series on 2025 state constitutional trends with this look at the legal legacy of Covid-19.

Case Trends: State Courts Continue to Grapple with Covid-19 Policies

Courts are still weighing the constitutionality of state responses to the pandemic more than five years after its start.

statecourtreport.org

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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

CNN @cnn.com · 28d

Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy suggestion that Americans who are roughed up by ICE can sue agents in federal court is drawing pushback from civil rights attorneys. They note that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has made those cases nearly impossible to win in recent years.

Kavanaugh faces blowback for claiming Americans can sue over encounters with ICE | CNN Politics

Justice Brett Kavanaugh's breezy suggestion this week that Americans who are roughed up by ICE can sue agents in federal court is drawing pushback from civil rights attorneys who note the Supreme Court's conservative majority has in recent years made th...

www.cnn.com

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Sep 8

#BREAKING: With no explanation (save for a solo concurrence by Justice Kavanaugh), #SCOTUS has frozen lower-court rulings that had enjoined allegedly suspicion-less arrests as part of "roving" immigration patrols in California.

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissents:

www.supremecourt.gov

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Sharon Brett @sharonbrett.bsky.social · Sep 8

The KU Law Review is putting on a fantastic symposium this fall (10/17) entitled State Constitutions in Times of Federal Uncertainty. Schedule and registration link can be found here: law.ku.edu/academics/ha...

Please share widely! We hope you can join us.

2025 Kansas Law Review Symposium | KU School of Law

October 17, 2025 | KU School of Law

law.ku.edu

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Reposted by Alicia Bannon

Margy O’Herron @margyoh.bsky.social · Sep 5

The Trump administration’s plan to use 600 military lawyers as temporary immigration judges, with some starting as soon as this week, will deprive immigrants of a fair hearing and further erode the line between military personnel and civilian government. 1/14

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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · Sep 5

NEW: There are a TON of significant oral arguments in state supreme courts this September. Cases address dark money, charter schools, election rules & more. Check out this roundup by @erings.bsky.social & @skess108.bsky.social w/ dates & links to watch. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

State Court Oral Arguments to Watch for in September

Issues on the dockets include charter schools, minimum wage for live-in caregivers, online arbitration agreements, and a controversial handwritten date requirement for mail ballots.

statecourtreport.org

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