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Kyle Kopitke v. Karen Brinson Bell, Executive Director, North Carolina State Board of Elections

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 19-2355 · judgment July 6, 2020


Certiorari denied · February 22, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

I. Whether the Fourth Circuit decision requiring all independent candidates to file their ballot access qualifying petitions by the date of North Carolina's March primary election impermissibly conflicts with this Court's decision in Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780 (1983) in which the Court held that a March filing date for presidential candidates was unconstitutional. II. Whether the Fourth Circuit erred in applying a litmus test in determining the constitutionality of the number of ballot access petition signatures required of a presidential candidate or other statewide candidate while failing to follow the Sixth and Eleventh circuits in evaluating the burden established by the statute by reference to the historical record of success in satisfying the statute's signature requirements.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Alan Porter Woodruff
Law office of Alan P. Woodruff

For respondent
Nicholas Scott Brod
North Carolina Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Feb 22 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 08 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Jessica Belcher, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  3. Feb 03 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/19/2021.
  4. Feb 01 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Karen Brinson Bell to respond filed.
  5. Dec 29 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 8, 2021)