sci102008

McCain v. Obama in the Supreme Court of the United States: A Hypothetical (One Hopes) Monday, 10/20/2008 10:00 AM (EST) David F. Levi, Dean and Professor, Duke Law School, and former Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (Chief Justice) Thomas R. Phillips, Partner, Baker Botts LLP, and retired Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Texas (Associate Justice) Patricia M. Wald, former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and former Judge for the International Criminal Tribunal (Associate Justice) Glen D. Nager, Partner and Chair of the Issues & Appeals Practice, Jones Day (For petitioners John McCain, et al.) Walter Dellinger, Partner and Chair of the Appellate Practice, O’Melveny & Myers LLP (For respondents Barack Obama, et al.) This event is a simulated adjudication of the hypothetical Supreme Court case, McCain v. Obama. The case was created by Edward B. Foley, director of The Ohio State University's Election Law@Moritz, as an experiment to demonstrate how such a dispute can be resolved in a non-partisan manner that produces confidence in both the courts and the election system. Under the hypothetical facts of McCain v. Obama, severe weather conditions in Colorado led to an extension of polling place hours in Denver, but not the rest of the state. The provisional ballots cast during these extended hours, if they are counted, will determine the winner of the presidential election - but whether counting them would violate the U.S. Constitution is the subject of the court case. To ensure bi-partisanship, the chief justice was mutually selected by the other two justices. This event is sponsored by the Georgetown Law Supreme Court Institute, The Ohio State University Election Law@Moritz and the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.