BATEN v. McMASTER

No. 19-1297.

967 F.3d 345 (2020)

Eugene BATEN; Chester Wills; Charlette Plummer-Wooley; Bakari Sellers; Cory C. Alpert; Benjamin Horne, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Henry MCMASTER, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of South Carolina; Mark Hammond, in his official capacity as Secretary of the State of South Carolina; South Carolina Election Commission; Billy Way, Jr., in his official capacity as a Chair of the Election Commission; Mark Benson, in his official capacity as a Commission Member of the Election Commission; Marilyn Bower; E. Allen Dawson, in his official capacity as a Commissioner Member of the Election Commission; Nicole Spain White, in her official capacity as a Commission Member of the Election Commission, Defendants-Appellees. Edward Foley, Amicus Curiae.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: July 21, 2020.

Amended: July 27, 2020.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Jacob Max Rosen , MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON, LLP, San Francisco, California, for Appellants. Thomas Ashley Limehouse, Jr. , OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: David Boies , Armonk, New York, James P. Denvir, III , Amy J. Mauser , Karen L. Dunn , Lisa Barclay , Amy L. Neuhardt , Hamish P.M. Hume , Melissa Shube , BOIES, SCHILLER & FLEXNER LLP, Washington, D.C.; Randall L. Allen , B. Parker Miller , Max Marks , Cassandra K. Johnson , ALSTON & BIRD LLP, Atlanta, Georgia; Richard Harpootlian , Christopher P. Kenney , RICHARD A. HARPOOTLIAN, PA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellants. Vordman Carlisle Traywick, III , ROBINSON GRAY STEPP & LAFFITTE, LLC, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellees. Jeffrey I. Pasek , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Amicus Curiae.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Judge FLOYD joined. Judge WYNN wrote a dissenting opinion.


A group of South Carolina voters commenced this action to challenge the "winner-take-all" aspect of South Carolina's process for appointing its nine Electors to the Electoral College.

Under South Carolina's winner-take-all appointment process, every eligible voter in South Carolina is given the right to cast a vote...

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