Merrill v. People First of Alabama

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was concern that in-person voting would expose voters to a risk of infection. To address the infection risk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that states allow curbside voting, meaning that voters would be able to vote from their vehicles by passing their ballots to poll workers. Although several Alabama counties were able and willing to offer curbside voting, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (defendant) issued a ban prohibiting curbside voting in all Alabama counties. Several of the state’s at-risk voters and associated organizations (plaintiffs) sued Merrill to enjoin the ban. The district court concluded that the ban violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by requiring persons with disabilities, for whom COVID-19 was disproportionately likely to be fatal, to risk contracting the disease if they wanted to vote in person. The court issued an injunction stating that, as a reasonable accommodation, Alabama counties were permitted, but not required, to offer curbside voting. Merrill asked the Eleventh Circuit to stay the district court’s injunction while an appeal on the merits was pending, which would have effectively put the ban back in effect at least temporarily. However, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the injunction. Merrill then applied to the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to stay the injunction.