Washington (CNN)Supreme Court on Friday upheld black voters instate legislative elections in Georgia I objected to the system. Public Service Commission that regulates public utilities in the state.
The move would allow conservative courts to side with voters over state officials in disputes over electoral rules, especially when courts are asked to act on an emergency basis. It was a rare example of
Nico Martinez, partner at Bartlit Beck LLP, who represented the challengers, said the Supreme Court's order states that "the PSC election this November illegally diluted millions of votes." It is an important step to ensure that it is not carried out using methods that A black citizen of Georgia.
"We look forward to presenting the merits of this case on appeal and are confident that the district court's well-founded decision will ultimately be upheld."
The commission is Georgia's regulator for investor-owned utilities such as power plants and telecommunications, Martinez said in a statement. Among its duties is the setting of residential, commercial and industrial utility rates.
Each of the five commission seats is assigned a specific district in which the commissioner must reside, but the commissioner himself is staggered and elected every six years in statewide elections. be elected.
But the judge's ruling has since been put on hold by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, prompting voters to seek Supreme Court intervention this week.
The allegations on appeal focus, in part, on the so-called Purcell doctrine. This doctrine discourages federal court action to disrupt election planning in the vicinity of the election.
The Supreme Court said the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals should not have used principle to justify staying the trial judge's order. Voters disputing the election rules noted that Georgia officials said the principles would not work if the commission's rulings against the current election system were appealed.
} The Supreme Court's order came after a series of lawsuits in which judges broke down along ideological lines on whether lower court rulings in favor of voting rights advocates should be withheld for the next election.
Similarly, during the 2020 elections, the Supreme Court suspended several lower court decisions to make it easier to vote during the pandemic.
Many of these orders were made without explanation from the majority, but in some cases conservative judges said their moves were motivated by adherence to the Purcell doctrine.