I understand from conversations with a reporter that
the Supreme Court has two BCRA items on its agenda when it meets on May 15.
These are motions from the McConnell plaintiffs and from the government
defendants to dispense with the printing of the lower court opinion as an
appendix. Given the bulk of the opinion and its easy accessibility, this
seems like a reasonable request. Apparently not on the agenda is McConnell's
request to have his typewritten jurisdictional statement accepted in lieu
of the usual printed document. (Why didn't McConnell just print up
his jurisdictional statement? As I noted here
McConnell filed his papers within hours of the 1600 page decision likely to
gain the advantage (such as it is) of being the first named plaintiff (now
appellant) in the Supreme Court.)
Also apparently not on the agenda is any consideration of expediting consideration
of the appeal. Why not? As I indicated here,
the Court appears to be waiting for a party (or all the parties) to file a
motion to expedite consideration of the case. I hope to see the government
defendants, the BCRA sponsors, and/or the Adams' plaintiffs move to expedite
consideration.
--
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211
(213)736-1466
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html