Wake up with the Washington Examiner: SCOTUS and the election, and Harris tries and fails to pull ahead – Washington Examiner

Keely BastowOctober 11, 2024

The article discusses the current political landscape ahead of the 2024 elections, focusing on the potential involvement of the Supreme⁢ Court in election-related cases and the campaign ⁣challenges faced by Vice President Kamala Harris. Analysts are divided on⁢ the Supreme Court’s expected role, with some⁣ suggesting that the justices may need to ⁢intervene if state election boards⁣ refuse to ⁤certify results. In contrast, there are concerns about the stability of‍ Harris’s lead against former President Donald Trump, despite her campaign having raised ‌over $1 billion⁤ in recent months.

Harris’s recent ⁢effort to‌ connect with diverse voter blocs and her debate performance have created some‍ momentum, but⁢ polling figures⁣ indicate a‌ tight race. Democratic operatives express worries that the excitement generated after her debate performance may not sustain until the elections. In ⁣a Univision town hall, ‌Harris faced tough questions regarding health care policies, especially concerning illegal immigrants, and her response ‍has raised further scrutiny. Ultimately, analysts highlight⁤ the need⁣ for the Harris campaign to maintain its momentum and effectively utilize ‌its financial resources as the election ‌approaches.

Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Supreme Court and the election, and Harris tries and fails to pull ahead

Supreme Court’s delicate dance with election involvement

Legal analysts are split on how involved they expect the Supreme Court to get in this year’s election, Supreme Court Reporter Kaelan Deese wrote this morning. Some say the light docket justices have prepared themselves is to make room for possible election-related cases, and others say that could instead be related to former President Donald Trump’s immunity cases.

“It’s pretty clear that Justice Roberts does not want the court to be moving in a direction where it is settling contentious issues that it doesn’t have to settle. You saw that as far back as the Obamacare case, when he was the vote that basically found a compromise that invalidated some provisions but not the whole law,” said Henry Olsen, an author, analyst, and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE

For a recreation of the Bush v. Gore case of 2000, many factors would have to line up. The election would have to be extremely close — former President George W. Bush’s lead stood at a stunning 327 votes over Vice President Al Gore in Florida — and there would have to be a valid federal legal question, not just a state issue.

However, University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq argues there are three pathways the court can take to involve itself in the election outcome, should there be questions of validity. One revolves around news out of Georgia, where the state election board has introduced rules to make it easier to refuse to certify a victory. If the board refuses to certify a win for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Supreme Court could step in to rule.

However, many of the challenges from 2020 arose out of the various rule changes due to the pandemic and absentee or mail-in ballots. Without that precursor to this election, there is less onus on the court to weigh in on the outcome of the election, which Olsen said it won’t want to do regardless.

“This is a court that I do not think wants to decide the election,” Olsen said, noting, “They will if they have to.”

Read here about the two other pathways the Supreme Court could take to involve itself in the election.

Concerns mount about why Harris isn’t further ahead

Vice President Kamala Harris has raised an astounding $1 billion in the last 2 1/2 months since President Joe Biden dropped out of the raise and endorsed her. Still, she’s neck-and-neck with Trump in the polls.

Harris’s campaign has taken every approach to get ahead of Trump. She has reached out to various voting blocs, restarted media appearances, and deployed celebrity endorsements, all on top of outperforming Trump during the presidential debate. Despite the efforts, she is trailing the former president by 0.3 points in battleground states, according to Real Clear Politics.

Some Democratic operatives are worried the excitement from the summer isn’t going to last until November, National Political Correspondent Mabinty Quarshie and Congressional Reporter Rachel Schilke reported.

“I think the biggest concern right now is how to close strong,” one Democratic aide said. “There was a lot of momentum post-debate, but the energy/polling has let up just a bit.”

The aide said, “Everyone is on edge.”

With all the money in the Harris campaign’s pocket, it will be able to reach out to people on various platforms rather than just traditional TV ads and mailers, which some strategists say is significantly more useful. The money also can be funneled to on-the-ground outreach, a strength the Harris campaign has leaned heavily on.

In an early September memo, Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign’s chairwoman, wrote Harris’s financial advantage would go “directly to a relentless battleground operation, with more than 312 coordinated offices and 2,000 coordinated staff in the states — a reflection of a campaign with presences in every corner of every battleground state and with the communities critical to victory.”

Still, analysts are warning of a plateau from the Democratic ticket, and it is making some party heavyweights scared.

“I’m very, very concerned and very scared,” James Carville told MSNBC.

Read here for what else is causing the polls to wobble.

Harris faces tough questions during Univision town hall

Harris answered voters’ questions during a Univision town hall in Las Vegas last night. Trump was also scheduled to attend a separate town hall earlier but rescheduled due to Hurricane Milton. White House Reporter Naomi Lim tuned in.

Mario Sigbaum, from California, told Harris directly that he was concerned about how Biden was “pushed aside” in the party after his debate performance in June. Harris, who has spoken little about the process of becoming the nominee other than saying she is proud to have earned it, repeated the answer.

“He and I have been partners for the last four years as his vice president to him as the president, and I am honored to have earned the Democratic nomination,” Harris said. “I am honored to have the endorsement of people from every walk of life. You will probably find that I probably have a bigger coalition of people who couldn’t seem to be more different than each other, who had come together around my candidacy.”

The most memorable moment of the night came when one audience member told Harris her mother, who was born in Mexico, was never able to get the type of healthcare she needed. Her mother died six months ago.

The question could have clarified Gov. Tim Walz’s (D-MN) comments and Harris’s past stances on whether or not illegal immigrants should be able to access healthcare. In 2020, Harris said they should be included in her Medicare for All bill. However, last weekend, Walz said his running mate did not support the policies he enacted in Minnesota that gave illegal immigrants access to driver’s licenses, free state university tuition, and the state’s low-income healthcare program.

In her answer, Harris failed to give a concrete answer to how she would aim to help people like Ivett Castillo’s mother and instead criticized Republicans over their rejection of the border bill, a popular pivot from the Democratic ticket.

“Had your mother been able to gain citizenship, she would have been entitled to healthcare that may have alleviated her suffering and yours,” Harris told Castillo. “This is one example of the fact that there are real people who are suffering because of an inability to put solutions in front of politics.”

Read here about one final question about civility in politics.