Federal Judiciary

Petition of the day

By Kiran Bhat

Today’s first petition of the day is: 

Title: Burris v. Judge
Docket: 10-367
Issue(s): (1) Whether the Seventeenth Amendment's express delegation of power to "direct" an election to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate to state legislatures precludes a federal judge from selecting the candidates that shall appear on the ballot; (2) whether the Seventeenth Amendment allows a state to forgo a special election and instead permit a temporarily appointed United States Senator to serve for the remainder of the vacated term where that term expires in less than two years after the first federal election following the vacancy; and (3) whether categorically excluding any would-be candidate from the ballot in a newly announced special election to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate unless that individual had already registered and been certified by the Illinois State Board of Elections as a candidate for the regular November election is consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (7th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition of Governor Pat Quinn
• Brief in opposition of Gerald Anthony Judge
• Petitioner's supplemental brief

Today’s second petition of the day is: 

Title: Quinn v. Judge
Docket: 10-821
Issue(s): Whether, contrary to the longstanding practice and the laws of many States, the Seventeenth Amendment requires a special election to fill a vacant Senate seat "every time that a vacancy happens in the state's senate delegation"-as the decision below holds-even where the vacated term will expire in the normal course following the next, biennial Congressional election.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (7th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of Louisiana et al.
• Petitioner's reply brief

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 04, 2011 (boomark / email).