Supreme Court rejects GOP push to cut absentee ballot deadline in N.C.
29 October 2020
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by Republicans to shorten North Carolina's deadline for mail-in ballots from nine to three days.
The big picture: This is the latest of a series of decisions over mail-in ballot deadlines in various states.
- It comes two days after the court rejected an effort by Wisconsin Democrats and civil rights groups to extend that state's deadline for counting absentee ballots to six days post-Election Day.
Of note: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented the latest ruling in a 5-3 vote.
- As in the ruling to deny a bid from Pennsylvania Republicans to expedite their request to shorten the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots, newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not participate in Wednesday's decision.
- This was "because of the need for a prompt resolution and because she has not had time to fully review the parties’ filings," the court said.
Read the decision, via DocumentCloud:
Editor's note: This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.