Tennessee Supreme Court Hears Case Concerning Availability of Absentee Ballots for All Tennesseans

The Tennessee Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday concerning the citizens’ right to vote via absentee ballot.

The cases presented (Earle J. Fisher et al. v. Tre Hargett et al. and Benjamin Lay et al. v. Mark Goins et al.) have become the focal point of the ongoing debate surrounding the efficacy of absentee and mail-in ballots and voters’ rights to absentee and mail-in ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Legal Expert: If Decision by Judge Was Based on ‘Dicta,’ That Would Place Integrity of Special Mayoral Election and Judicial System in Question

Professor Judith M. Stinson, Executive Associate Dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University and a recognized national expert on the distinctions between legal holdings and “dicta,” told The Tennessee Star that if the decision by Chancery Court Judge Claudia Bonnyman to set the date for the special mayoral election in Nashville at August 2 treated dicta as binding, that places the integrity of that election, as well as the entire judicial system in the state of Tennessee, in question. Only a legal holding in a case on the issue argued by both sides establishes legal precedent, Stinson told The Star in a phone interview on Thursday. “Dicta” is entirely irrelevant and is not solid grounds for a legal precedent. Last Friday, the Davidson County Election Commission ignored the plain meaning of the law and voted 3 to 2 to set August 2 as the date for the special mayoral election. On Wednesday, Judge Bonnyman sided with the commission and ruled that August 2 should be the date for the special mayoral election. On Thursday, Jamie Hollin, attorney for plaintiff and mayoral candidate Ludye Wallace, appealed Judge Bonnyman’s ruling to the Tennessee Supreme Court, The Tennesseean reported. Here is the…

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