Background
Plaintiffs, including various advocacy groups and individuals, challenged Texas election laws in federal district court. The case was consolidated with other similar appeals and came before the Fifth Circuit on a petition for rehearing en banc.
The court’s reasoning
The court treated the petition for rehearing en banc as a petition for panel rehearing and denied it. The denial occurred because, at the request of one member, the court was polled, and a majority did not vote in favor of rehearing.
The dissent
Our No Nexus Rule is inconsistent with the judicial power. The Framers drafted Article III to deny federal judges the power to revise law.
Andrew S. Oldham
What it means going forward
The denial of rehearing en banc leaves the panel’s decision in place, maintaining the lower court’s application of the Ex parte Young doctrine as interpreted by the panel, which the dissent characterized as expanding federal judicial power over state election laws.