All posts by Ned Foley

Ben Ginsberg & Sarah Longwell on “the Big Lie”

March 28, 2022, 6:11 pmUncategorizedNed Foley

Ben Ginsberg is Sarah Longwell’s guest on her “Focus Group” podcast. Having listened to it on my drive to work this morning, I recommend it as a “must listen” for anyone concerned about protecting American democracy from the consequence… Continue reading

Judge Sutton’s new book

February 28, 2022, 4:55 pmalternative voting systems, court decisions, redistrictingNed Foley

This essay focus on the election law implications of the new book by Jeffrey Sutton, Chief Judge of the Sixth Circuit. Bottom line: given all the challenges confronting the operation of the electoral process in the United States currently, now… Continue reading

Liz Cheney Gets It

February 11, 2022, 6:02 amUncategorizedNed Foley

In a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Liz Cheney says that the January 6 Committee’s public hearings will directly repudiate Trump’s Big Lie: “While some degree of fraud occurs in every election, there was no… Continue reading

“Can Alaska Save Democracy?”

February 10, 2022, 7:42 amalternative voting systems, UncategorizedNed Foley

I’ve written this new Washington Post column. A snippet: “[T]he key point is that something like Alaska’s [new electoral system] can liberate America from the threat of Trump and his recruits dismantling democracy. If they no longer can control… Continue reading

Barney Frank, Liz Cheney, Rob Portman & Democracy

February 5, 2022, 6:01 amalternative voting systems, election subversion risk, UncategorizedNed Foley

Barney Frank, the long-time member of Congress from Massachusetts whose memoirs every student of politics should read (or better yet listen to, since Frank narrates the audiobook), has written an ingenious op-ed for The Washington Post on Liz Cheney’s… Continue reading

How Should Democrats Respond to the GOP’s Censure of Cheney & Kinzinger?

February 4, 2022, 1:29 pmalternative voting systems, election subversion risk, political parties, UncategorizedNed Foley

I take the censure as further evidence that the Democratic Party, if it wants to protect small-d democracy, must try to save the Republican Party from itself. To have a functioning democracy, the United States needs a responsible right-of-center party,… Continue reading

The Institutional Context of the New GOP

February 4, 2022, 9:11 amalternative voting systems, election subversion riskNed Foley

Rick Pildes has highlighted the significance of the Axios story on the transformed Republican Party. I want to add one more point (which is a version of the question I plan to ask a lot this year): would it be… Continue reading

“As Part of Electoral Count Act Reform, Liberals Should Learn to Love Bush v. Gore”

February 4, 2022, 8:25 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

Lawfare has posted an essay I’ve written on the essential role of federal courts in stopping election subversion by state officials and how this essential role fits in with ECA reform.

Evaluating congressional gerrymanders

February 2, 2022, 3:16 pmelection subversion risk, redistricting, UncategorizedNed Foley

I’m bringing over here to ELB part of a Twitter dialogue that’s emerged in the wake of my post this morning on Gerrymandering as Democracy Protection??? In response to an exchange I had with Rick Hasen on this topic, Nick… Continue reading

Gerrymandering as Democracy Protection???

February 2, 2022, 7:01 amelection subversion risk, redistrictingNed Foley

I’ve been troubled by the spate of stories in recent weeks about the possibility of the Democratic Party being able to counter-gerrymander itself to something of a draw in this decade’s redistricting wars. The point of elections, as I see… Continue reading

New WaPo op-ed on need for Section 3 statute

February 1, 2022, 6:47 pmUncategorizedNed Foley

Following up on my earlier post, I now see this Washington Post op-ed by attorneys Cliff Sloan and Brendan Gants. They argue, as do I, that before the 2024 election Congress needs to enact a statute giving DOJ power… Continue reading

Ackerman & Magliocca on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment

February 1, 2022, 3:59 pmUncategorizedNed Foley

Bruce Ackerman and Gerard Magliocca have co-authored a piece for Politico on the chaos that could ensue over efforts to disqualify Trump from becoming president again pursuant to section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. I’ve addressed this topic previously for … Continue reading

Pence’s Particular Responsibility to Denounce Trump’s “Electoral McCarthyism”

February 1, 2022, 6:13 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

Yes, we all should be grateful that Pence ultimately did the right thing on January 6. And, yes, we all should feel sympathy for Pence and his family given the grave personal threat he faced from the “Hang Mike Pence”… Continue reading