Like this is news. I think Justice Stephens overseas cases like this one. Supreme Court Rules With Ohio Secretary of State on Voter Fraud RulesFoxNews.comThe U.S. Supreme Court rules with Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, granting her a stay to a temporary restraining order from a federal appeals court that ordered her to provide a system for implementing voter fraud prevention methods.
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The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Democratic Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, granting her a stay on Friday to a decision from a lower court that ordered her to provide a system for implementing voter fraud prevention methods.
The decision by the full court repudiates the lower court's ruling siding with the Ohio Republican Party and ordering Brunner to verify records of about 200,000 of 666,000 new voters this year whose driver's license and Social Security records don't match information in other government databases.
In an unsigned order, the high court ruled that it could not say whether Ohio was properly enforcing the Help America Vote Act. However, it said the Ohio GOP doesn't have the standing to file the suit.
"They didn't deal with the merits of the case," said Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett. "What they dealt with was a technicality on whether we had standing or not to bring the action."
Bennett said Brunner could have set up a system months ago to check the discrepancies and that her actions have left the potential for voter fraud.
"If we have a close election in Ohio and there's any doubts, the failures will be laid right at her doorstep," Bennett said.
Brunner said the court's decision would help ease confusion in the run-up to Election Day.
She said the act was clear that the mismatch lists were to be used to maintain the voter database, not to determine voter eligibility.
"We are very pleased that the court recognized that this was an illegal challenge on the part of the Republicans," she said.
She said the office would have found a way to comply, but there were risks that qualified voters would have been disqualified.
"I think it's an unfair tactic to subject voters to this kind of uncertainty and anxiety this close to such an important election," she said.
The ruling states: "Respondents, however, are not sufficiently likely to prevail on the question whether Congress has authorized the District Court to enforce Section 303 in an action brought by a private litigant to justify the issuance of a TRO. ... We therefore grant the application for a stay and vacate the TRO."
Hedging her bets, Brunner filed a motion late Thursday night asking the federal appeals court to extend or modify an earlier order to come up with a system to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Circuit Court Judge George Smith set the completion time for Brunner to come up with a method for validating mismatched voter registration data at midnight Saturday. Brunner, who filed a request for a stay of the order with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, asked for a two-week extension so she could be compliant if the high court didn't see her way.
The Ohio Republican Party filed the initial suit challenging the state's compliance with the Help America Vote Act, alleging that the state has no system to deal with mismatched voter records.
John McCain's campaign, which has hammered groups like ACORN for its voter registration problems, issued a statement Friday saying the Supreme Court did not actually address violations of the Help America Vote Act.
"It remains our belief that American citizens should be guaranteed that their legitimate votes are not wiped away by illegally cast ballots. What is no longer in question is the partisan nature of Jennifer Brunner's efforts to minimize the level of fairness and transparency in this election," the statement said.
On Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the GOP by issuing its temporary restraining order. Brunner responded with her appeal to the high court.
In its reply brief to the Supreme Court, the Ohio GOP said if Brunner needed relief from the temporary restraining order then she should seek it from Smith, who issued the ruling.
