Category Archives: election law biz

Here’s one I missed:

Janai Nelson was included in the Lawyers of Color 50 under 50 list (most influential minority law professors aged 50 or younger) and is the recipient of the 2013 Derrick A. Bell Award from the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Section on Minority Groups. The award is presented each year to a junior faculty member who has made an extraordinary contribution through scholarship, teaching, and mentoring.  She was also granted tenure and promoted to full professor at St. John’s University School of Law.  Most recently, she was appointed the law school’s Associate Dean of Faculty Scholarship.

Congratulations!

Here’s my yearly roundup of election law academic hires, promotions moves, visits, accolades.

Mark Alexander, Guy Charles, Kareem Crayton, Spencer Overton, and Ciara Torres-Spelliscy were included in the Lawyers of Color 50 under 50 list (most influential minority law professors aged 50 or younger) .

Josh Douglas will be teaching in London for the Spring 2014 semester as part of the London Law Consortium.

Chris Elmendorf, on sabbatical from UC Davis next year, will be a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Governmental Studies, and the Center for the Study of Law and Society.

Amber Maltbie is teaching Election Law as an adjunct at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in the Spring.

Michael McDonald and Micah Altman received  the Tides Foundation Pizzigati Prize, Strata Data Innovation Award, and APSA ITP Research Software award for their work on the DistrictBuilder open redistricting system.

Dave Primo was named the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor at the University of Rochester.

Teddy Rave has accepted a tenure track teaching postion at Houston Law.

Joshua Ian Rosenstein is adjunct in the Election Law Program at William & Mary Law, where he is teaching a course on lobbying law called The Regulation of Advocacy.

Brad Smith will hold the Visiting Judge T. Copenhaver Chair of Law at West Virginia University in 2013-14.

Doug Spencer has accepted a tenure track teaching position at U. Conn Law.

Matt Streb has been promoted for full professor at NIU.

Congratulations, all!

NYT obituary.

Common Cause is deeply saddened to announce that Bob Edgar, its president and CEO, died suddenly this morning at his home. Bob was 69.

“We are deeply saddened and shaken today by the passing of Bob Edgar,” said Common Cause Board Chair Robert Reich. “Bob will be remembered for his decency, kindness, compassion and humor. His deep commitment to social justice and strengthening our democracy is his greatest gift to Common Cause and the nation. Our hearts are with Bob’s family, his wife Merle, and sons Andrew, David and Rob, and their families.”"

Bob, who served Pennsylvania in Congress for 12 years and also led the National Council of Churches, became the president and CEO of Common Cause in May 2007. He oversaw the relaunching of at least seven state chapters, travelled tirelessly to meet with and recruit Common Cause supporters and raised the organization’s national profile and its critical mission to strengthen our democracy.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 to represent the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania, Bob was part of the congressional class nicknamed “the Watergate babies,” those elected in the wake of the Watergate scandal and who led sweeping reforms of Congress.

During six terms in the US House, Bob led efforts to improve public transportation, fought wasteful water projects and authored the Community Right to Know provision of Super Fund legislation. He also served on the House Select Committee on Assassinations that investigated the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. Bob also served on the Veterans Affairs Committee, working on issues around Agent Orange and readjustment counseling to treat post traumatic stress disorder.

Bob ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1986 against Sen. Arlen Specter. That race fueled his frustration with the undue influence of money in politics and he became an active supporter of clean elections and campaign finance reform, issues that have long been Common Cause’s hallmark. He served on Common Cause’s National Governing Board for several years before becoming President of the organization.

Bob received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pa., and a master of divinity degree from the Theological School of Drew University, Madison, N.J. He also served as president of the Claremont School of Theology. He holds five honorary doctoral degrees. Bob sat on the boards of several organizations, including the National Coalition on Health Care, the Environment and Energy Study Institute, the National Foundation on Alternative Medicine, Drew University and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

Bob was the author of “Middle Church,” a call to progressive people of faith to take back the moral high ground from the extremists and make America a better and less divided country.
###

Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to restoring the core values of American democracy, reinventing an open, honest, and accountable government that works for the public interest, and empowering ordinary people to make their voices heard.

Press release:

RNC Names James Bopp, Jr. Special Counsel

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus today announced that James Bopp, Jr. will serve as special counsel to the Republican National Committee.　 In this volunteer role, Mr. Bopp will provide assistance to RNC general counsel John Ryder with respect to the Rules of the Republican Party.

“I am very pleased that Jim has agreed to continue his service to the RNC by agreeing to assist our General Counsel, John Ryder, on important issues related to the Rules of the Republican Party.　 Jim was a conservative leader during his time on the national committee and I appreciate his interest in staying involved going forward.”

RNC General Counsel John Ryder commented, “Jim’s knowledge of the party rules and his conservative principles will be valuable assets as we work to strengthen the grassroots of our party and work toward electoral success in 2016.”

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to assist Chairman Priebus and John Ryder over the next couple years on the important matter of party rules.　I appreciate the opportunity to serve in this role and share their commitment to restoring the party’s strength and staying committed to our conservative principles.”

Bopp is an attorney in Terre Haute, Indiana who served on the Republican National Committee from 2008 – 2012.　He was recently named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States by The National Law Journal was named the 2009 Republican Lawyer of the Year by the Republican National Lawyers Association.　 He has been on the forefront of litigating challenges to campaign finance laws, including McCutcheon v. FEC, which is currently before the United States Supreme Court.

James Bopp, Jr. Has a national federal and state election law practice.  He is General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and former co-Chairman of the election Law subcommittee for the Federalist Society.

In the course of writing my second paper on political polarization (here’s the first), I’ve spent a lot of time at The Monkey Cage and Mischiefs of Faction.  I’ll be adding them to the blogroll when classes end and I have more time for blog maintenance.  But in the meantime, these should be bookmarked and checked frequently.

I’ll be posting a new draft of my paper, “Political Dysfunction and Constitutional Change,” soon.

Bob Bauer, Jim Bopp, Ben Ginsberg and I are included in National Law Journal’s list of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.  I’m honored to be included.

Inside Higher Ed: “he Senate voted Wednesday to bar the use of National Science Foundation funds for political science research not deemed essential to national security or economic interest. Lawmakers also voted to protect military tuition assistance programs from budget cuts, ensuring that tuition dollars for active-duty members of the military will continue to flow.”

More from the Chronicle of Higher Education and Dan Drezner.

Michael McDonald: “Obama SOTU: American elections, let’s fix that. Senate Dems: let’s keep it broken by cutting NSF funding on ways to fix that.”

Big, big news in the election law world.  Nate Persily, one of the country’s leading election law experts, is coming West (hooray!) to Stanford Law.  Great news for Nate, and even better news for Stanford!  Selfishly, having Nate closer means we’ll be able to do more West Coast election law events (especially with Bruce Cain also going to Stanford next year).

UPDATE:  Press release.

See here.

Press release.

Congratulations!

Great news for CPI, which has been doing great work on campaign disclosure issues.

TPM’s Ryan Reilly, one of the very best people on the voting wars beat, is moving to the Huffington Post.  What a coup for HuffPo!

Ryan’s work is indispensable in this area.

NPR’s Carrie Johnson: “The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has been called the law firm for black America. Once run by Thurgood Marshall, the group played a major role in desegregating public schools and fighting restrictions at the ballot box. Now, the Legal Defense Fund is preparing for a new leader — just as the Supreme Court considers cases that could pare back on those gains.”

Congratulations Jocelyn!

Politico reports.

Mother Jones reports.

LA Times: “For most Americans, interest in the results of the 2012 presidential campaign ended somewhere around the first election night projections for President Obama and the brief, stunned concession speech delivered by a gobsmacked Mitt Romney. But for a small group of obsessives, the political equivalent of those who devour box scores for breakfast, a fascinating and welcome service has come from David Wasserman, a youthful and whip-smart campaign analyst with the Cook Political Report, who has become a one-man clearinghouse for presidential tabulations across the country.”

WSJ law blog reports.

Great news for the LDF.  I was so impressed with Ifill’s moderation of a panel at the recent GW election law symposium.

I think we’ll also end up seeing the LDF in lots of election-related litigation going forward.

This item appears in Crain’s New York Business.

The American Lawyer reports.

Here.

Here.

Congratulations to all!

Detroit News: “Jocelyn Benson — expert on election law, former Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, marathoner, law professor, author — has always been driven by goals and the belief that she can meet them. She is also a military wife who waits for the phone to ring every day, for a call that may last only seconds.”

BLT reports.

Bloomberg reports.

Interesting.

Columbus Dispatch: “William Consovoy, an attorney representing Secretary of State Jon Husted, noted, for example, that military members get their absentee ballots earlier than the rest of Ohioans.”

Consovoy is an accomplished appellate practitioner at Wiley, Rein. I have not seen Ohio use outside counsel like this, though Texas and South Carolina have in recent high profile election cases (both hiring Paul Clement). Are there other examples?

A ChapinBlog.

Press release: “Arthur G. Scotland, former Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, has joined Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni LLP as ‘Of Counsel’ effective August 8, 2012. Scotland, who retired from the bench in 2010 after serving on the Court of Appeal for 23 years, will be a member of the firm’s government law section, but will be available to assist the litigation and political law sections of the firm.”

Great get for Nielsen Merksamer!

Bruce Cain, of the UC Berkeley Political Science Department and the UCDC Center, is moving to Stanford in 2013. He is the director designate for the Bill Lane Center for the American West and in the political science department at Stanford.  He will be at visitor at NYU’s Straus Center in the upcoming year.

What a coup for Stanford, and what a loss for UC.  Good luck Bruce!

This item appears in the NY Law Journal.

Here’s my yearly roundup of election law academic hires, promotions moves, visits, accolades.

Micah Altman joined MIT Libraries as Director of Research.

Guy Charles (Duke) was named the Charles S. Rhyne Professor of Law.

Chris Elmendorf decided to remain at UC Davis after getting a lateral offer from UC Hastings.

Jim Gardner (Buffalo) will be at McGill University in Montreal on a Fulbright in the fall and in the spring he will be visiting at Florida State,

Jerry Goldfeder will be teaching Election Law and the Presidency at Fordham Law School in the Fall and Election Law at Univ. of Pennsylvania in Spring 2013.

Christian Grose (USC) was promoted to Associate Professor of Political Science (with tenure).

Justin Levitt (Loyola L.A.) will be visiting in the spring at Yale.

Mike Pitts (Indiana-Indianapolis) was awarded tenure and full professor by Indiana University (with unanimous votes from both the law faculty and campus committees).

James Sample (Hofstra) was named professor of the year by the graduating class and gave this commencement speech.

Nick Stephanopoulos accepted an entry level offer from the University of Chicago Law School.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy (Stetson) has been selected to be a member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which is responsible for www.followthemoney.org.

Jim Tucker will be teaching voting rights and election law beginning in the Fall as an adjunct at UNLV.

Congratulations all!

Who knew?

Nice shoutout  about ELB from NCSL, which cautions that not everyone will agree with “Hasen’s slant.”  As my inbox can attest!

Congratulations Nick!

WaPo offers this profile of Katie Biber Chen.  See also this brief GQ profile in which I am quoted on the importance of Biber’s work for Romney.

A leading lawyer in the civil rights and voting rights world.