The Supreme Court on Oct. 7 rejected a Republican challenge to President Joe Biden’s executive order that increased government involvement in the voter registration and voter mobilization process.
Presidential and congressional elections are scheduled for Nov. 5.
State lawmakers in Pennsylvania previously filed a petition to appeal an unfavorable ruling by a federal district court that is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Biden’s order calls upon all federal agencies, including the prison system, to help increase voter registration and participation and promote voting by mail.
Republican critics say Democrats are likely to benefit more than the Republican Party. The lead petitioner is Pennsylvania state Rep. Dawn Keefer.
Critics said Democrats and Republicans were unlikely to benefit equally from the provisions in the executive order.
In the case, 27 Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania are disputing Biden’s Executive Order 14019 of March 7, 2021, which requires all federal agencies to help increase voter registration and participation.
Every federal agency was required to submit a plan for voter registration and participation to Susan Rice, the president’s domestic policy adviser.
The Keystone State lawmakers argued that the order was unconstitutional and that voter registration drives aren’t a legitimate function of government. They are also challenging an executive order issued by then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, regarding voter registration.
The lawmakers argued in their lawsuit that the executive actions violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution by usurping their power to prescribe the time, place, and manner of holding elections.
Judge Jennifer Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed the lawsuit on March 26.
“[The individual state lawmakers] did not have standing to bring a challenge to an action that allegedly injured the legislature as a whole,” the judge wrote. “[They] alleged only an institutional injury resulting from ‘a general loss of legislative power.’
“A vague, generalized allegation that elections, generally, will be undermined, is not the type of case or controversy that this court may rule on under Article III [of the U.S. Constitution].”
The lawmakers told the Supreme Court that they wanted expedited consideration of the standing issue, so if they prevail, “they can obtain a preliminary injunction in the district court well before the November 2024 election.”
In May, the justices turned down a request to expedite the case.
The Department of Justice refused to comment on the Oct. 7 ruling.
“The department will decline comment,” spokesperson Sophie Ulin told The Epoch Times by email.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Keefer’s attorney, Erick G. Kaardal of Mohrman, Kaardal, and Erickson in Minneapolis and to Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro’s attorney Michael J. Fischer, but no replies were received by publication time.
