PA gov takes victory lap after Supreme Court rejects GOP bid to overturn election law ‘usurpations’
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected hearing a Republican-backed challenge to an executive order signed by President Biden that works to broaden voting access and registration, just roughly one month before Election Day.
The Supreme Court reconvened Monday for its 2024-2025 term and rejected a bevvy of cases, including one backed by dozens of Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania who claimed President Biden’s 2021 executive order on voter access was unconstitutional and attempted to interfere with the election. The lawsuit also targeted an edict from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro for enacting automatic voter registration across the state.
The justices did not comment when rejecting the appeal.
Shapiro’s office took a victory lap following the Supreme Court's rejection of hearing the case, calling GOP efforts a "bad faith attempt" to disenfranchise voters.
"This petition was yet another bad faith attempt to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters – and the U.S. Supreme Court made the right decision to deny the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus petition," Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"Governor Shapiro has consistently fought to protect our democracy – including defeating Donald Trump and his allies in court dozens of times to defend Pennsylvanians’ votes and protect access to the ballot box. Yesterday, election deniers went 0-2 at the U.S. Supreme Court," Bonder said.
Biden signed the executive order on Promoting Access to Voting in March 2021, which directs federal agencies to expand access to voter registration, works to overhaul the government’s Vote.gov website, and notes that the federal government has a "duty to ensure that registering to vote and the act of voting be made simple and easy for all those eligible to do so."
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Executive Order 14019 states that "executive departments and agencies should partner with State, local, Tribal, and territorial election officials to protect and promote the exercise of the right to vote, eliminate discrimination and other barriers to voting, and expand access to voter registration and accurate election information."
The executive order set off a firestorm of criticism among Republicans, most notably with 27 Republican Pennsylvania lawmakers filing a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The lawmakers argued that the executive order essentially serves as an executive get-out-the-vote effort targeting demographics that would benefit the Democratic Party. They argued the move was unconstitutional as Congress never enacted a law that grants such an action from the White House.
A federal judge rejected the lawsuit in March, citing it lacked legal standing, setting up a legal showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We think it's really important for President Biden to be held accountable," Erick Kaardal, an attorney for the lawmakers, told Fox News Digital in April.
"For him to violate such a big law when all the little people have to follow the laws, even little laws … it’s clear President Biden has issued an executive order without congressional enactments to get himself re-elected. It’s ridiculous," Kaardal added.
In their petition filed to the Supreme Court in April, the Republican lawmakers asked the court to weigh in on the case. They argued that, for the 2024 election, they cannot "do their part" in suing to stop "federal and state executive usurpations of Pennsylvania state law, pursuant to the Elections Clause and Electors Clause, unless the Court does its part and declares individual state legislator standing in this case."
The lawmakers had called on the Supreme Court to bypass the federal appeals court, and determine if they have standing to bring the case ahead of the 2024 election.
Following the court's rejection of the case, Shapiro's office told Fox Digital that the governor is zeroed-in on "protecting our democracy and ensuring our elections are free, fair, safe, and secure."
The Supreme Court this term will hear a handful of other high-profile cases, including laws banning "ghost guns," the legality of Tennessee’s ban on transgender surgery for children, as well as the legality of federal bans on flavored e-cigarette vapes.