The 13th Circuit Court District Election appeal

Justice Chandler has ordered that the expedited appeal briefs are due today at 5:00 p.m.  We will know shortly what the Supreme Court thinks about the write-in election in the 13th Circuit Court District.  The question becomes whether this will affect the 10th Chancery Court District.

I spoke with S. Wayne Easterling, Esq., who filed the suit on behalf of the clerks.  He stated that he was unsure whether the arguments that they were making to stop the 13th Circuit Court District election would bar our write-in here.  If the lawsuit is successful and the election is barred on the basis of some constitutional violation, that would tend to invalidate the entire write-in process.

But claim and issue preclusion would not otherwise attach to the 10th Chancery Court District election, because no clerks from our district have joined in that lawsuit.  The DOJ may still invalidate the election under the Voting Rights Act, but I don't know enough about that to speak intelligently.