Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19a1016_o759.pdf
Page Number: 5

Cite as:  589 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 19A1016 
_________________ 

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. v. 
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. 

ON APPLICATION FOR STAY 

[April 6, 2020] 

JUSTICE  GINSBURG,  with  whom  JUSTICE  BREYER, 
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting. 
The  District  Court,  acting  in  view  of  the  dramatically 
evolving  COVID–19  pandemic,  entered  a  preliminary  in-
junction to safeguard the availability of absentee voting in 
Wisconsin’s spring election.  This Court now intervenes at 
the  eleventh  hour  to  prevent  voters  who  have  timely  re-
quested absentee ballots from casting their votes.  I would 
not disturb the District Court’s disposition, which the Sev-
enth Circuit allowed to stand. 

I 
A 
Wisconsin’s  spring  election  is  scheduled  for  tomorrow, 
Tuesday, April 7, 2020.  At issue are the presidential pri-
maries, a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, three seats 
on  the  Wisconsin  Court  of  Appeals,  over  100  other  judge-
ships,  over  500  school  board  seats,  and  several  thousand 
other positions.  Democratic National Committee v. Bostel-
mann, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, ___, 2020 WL 1638374, *3 (WD 
Wis., Apr. 2, 2020). 

In  the  weeks  leading up  to  the  election,  the  COVID–19 
pandemic has become a “public health crisis.”  Id., at ___, 
2020 WL 1638374, *1.  As of April 2, Wisconsin had 1,550 
confirmed cases of COVID–19 and 24 deaths attributable to 
the  disease,  “with  evidence  of  increasing  community