The unsigned ruling provides yet another message that the majority of the court has no interest in re-ruling the last election.
Before Monday, the judges had already turned down several requests to participate in one of the most controversial elections in history, denying petitions from then-President Donald Trump and other Republicans seeking to destroy the election results in multiple states that President Joe Biden had. won.
There were no known dissent.
“Again, the court’s involvement in the 2020 election is proceeding with a whimper, not a bang,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
It was a hotly debated topic in the weeks before and after the election, as some Republicans accused state courts may not have the final say on their voting rules.
The argument is that the constitution gives the state legislature – not the governor or the state courts – the final say over elections and the way states elect voters. Critics of the so-called “independent state legislature” doctrine say that “legislature” is a broad term, including commissions given legislative powers by the state constitution.
After the election, Trump invited leaders of the Pennsylvania legislature to the White House, while continuing to make unfounded claims that widespread voter fraud had taken place, although no court agreed. Biden won the state by approximately 82,000 votes.
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals has previously dismissed this case because the challengers did not have the legal right to bring the case. The challengers wanted the Supreme Court to reverse that decision, ruling that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had usurped the authority of the Pennsylvania General Assembly when it changed the voting rules prescribed by law.
Vladeck said the court’s move on Monday leaves the long-term legal question unanswered.
By giving up the decision below and ordering the lower court to dismiss the case as disputable, the judges avoided tacitly or dismiss the lower court’s analysis, leaving no federal precedent for whether the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was allowed to renew. the deadline for receiving the post-in ballots last fall, ”said Vladeck.
This story has been updated with additional details.