Posted: November 20, 2010
Abstention in Alaska
The federal court in Alaska has put certification of the U.S. Senate election on hold until state courts address whether Miller has a valid basis for contesting Murkowski's apparent victory. The case could go back to federal court if its disposition in state court raises tenable constitutional questions, but as a practical matter there seems little likelihood that either a state or federal court would end up nullfying the outcome of this election given the number of ballots for Murkowski that Miller is not challenging. More information on Miller v. Lieutenant Governor Craig Campbell is available on our Major Pending Cases page for this case.
PDF files in this site require
Commentary
Gerrymandering as Viewpoint Discrimination: A "Functional Equivalence" Test
Edward B. Foley
A First Amendment test for identifying when a map is functionally equivalent to a facially discriminatory statute.
more commentary...