As the 2020 election quickly approaches, the Supreme Court has issued two key rulings on state election laws this week—in Merill v. People First of Alabama, ruling 5-3 to prevent counties from offering curbside voting in Alabama, and in Pennsylvania Democratic Party v. Boockvar, upholding Pennsylvania’s extension of its mail-in ballot deadline by a 4-4 vote. This episode recaps those rulings, explores other key election-related cases before courts around the country, and explains the constitutional dimensions of legal battles over voting, including why and how a court decides when state laws rise to the level of disenfranchisement, or not. Emily Bazelon of The New York Times Magazine and co-host of Slate’s podcast “Political Gabfest,” and Bradley Smith, professor at Capital University Law School who previously served on the Federal Election Commission, join host Jeffrey Rosen.
FULL PODCAST
PARTICIPANTS
Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine and is the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School. She is also the co-host of Slate’s podcast “Political Gabfest” and the author of the award-winning book Charged. Over the summer, she joined National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for a constitutional class on “Elections in America,” linked below.
Bradley A. Smith is chairman and founder of the Institute for Free Speech and the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at Capital University Law School. He’s also a visiting fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He served on the Federal Election Commission from 2000 to 2005, and is the author of several explainers for the National Constitution Center’s Interactive Constitution, including the Article I, Section 2 and 15th Amendment explainers.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- National Constitution Center election resources:
- Elections in America with Emily Bazelon on the Live at the National Constitution Center podcast
- "Will Americans Lose Their Right to Vote in the Pandemic?" by Emily Bazelon, The New York Times Magazine
- Article I, Section 2 and 15th Amendment explainers on the Interactive Constitution co-authored by Bradley A. Smith
- Recent programs:
- America's Contentious Presidential Elections: A History on the Live at the National Constitution Center podcast
- The Hayes-Tilden Election of 1876 on the Live at the National Constitution Center podcast
- Merill v. People First of Alabama (2020)
- Anderson v. Celebrezze (1983)
- Purcell v. Gonzalez (2006)
- Pennsylvania Democratic Party v. Boockvar (2020)
- Trump v. Boockvar (2020)
- Moore v. Circosta (2020)
- Democratic National Committee v. Bostelmann (2020)
- Texas League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott (2020)
- Bush v. Gore (2000)
This episode was engineered by David Stotz and Greg Scheckler and produced by Jackie McDermott. Research was provided by Alexandra “Mac” Taylor, Jackie McDermott, and Lana Ulrich.
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TRANSCRIPT: Download the PDF here. This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
