All posts by Tabatha Abu El-Haj

“Lawyers Risk Their Law Licenses Helping Smarmy Politicians”

December 5, 2021, 5:59 amchicaneryethics reformsTabatha Abu El-Haj

Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy writes, in the Washington Monthly, about the hard lessons currently being learned by the lawyers who peddled the Big Lie in court. More than just an update on the sanctions that have already been dispensed, Torres-Spelliscy… Continue reading

Reforms to Electoral Count Law On Table, Maybe

December 4, 2021, 6:52 amelection subversion risk, electoral college, Fixing Election AdministrationJan 6 CommitteeTabatha Abu El-Haj

N.Y. Times Members of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol are pressing to address ambiguities in “the complex and little-known law that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn… Continue reading

“NC judges won’t block primary election preparation over redistricting cases”

December 3, 2021, 3:21 pmredistrictingpartisan gerrymander, state courtsTabatha Abu El-Haj

News and Observer The three-judge panel in North Carolina charged with reviewing the challenge to the state’s new maps refused today to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the congressional and legislative maps approved last month . The decision can and… Continue reading

Texas’ bid to dismiss challenge to its maps fails

December 3, 2021, 2:57 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

Three-judge district court panel rejects Texas’ preposterous argument that VRA precludes private enforcement of Section 2. I love the wry sarcasm, “it would be ambitious indeed for a district court-even a three judge court-to deny a private right of action… Continue reading

Lawfare to consolidate significant Jan. 6 developments in one place

December 3, 2021, 10:50 amelection subversion riskJan. 6Tabatha Abu El-Haj

A big thank you to Lawfare, which has announced its new initiative to consolidate information and developments arising out of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and democracy. “Lawfare is launching The January 6 Project, which compiles Lawfare’s coverage,… Continue reading

Breaking–“Washington Supreme Court declines to redraw political maps, accepts redistricting commission’s work”

December 3, 2021, 10:41 amredistrictingindependent redistricting commissionsTabatha Abu El-Haj

Seattle Times “The Washington Supreme Court will not exercise its authority to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district maps, leaving in place the work of the bipartisan redistricting commission.In a unanimous ruling Friday, the court found the commission had… Continue reading

Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs likely to shake up state elections in 2022.

December 3, 2021, 6:04 amUncategorizeddemocratic responsiveness, mobilization, state politicsTabatha Abu El-Haj

The Washington Post correctly notes the electoral implications of the forthcoming decision to gut Roe v. Wade. “Now, normally low-profile state legislative races and less-prominent gubernatorial contests suddenly hold the potential to become national flash points in the polarizing debate,… Continue reading

New Brookings Institute report on how to combat untruths in the marketplace of ideas

December 3, 2021, 5:54 amcheap speechproposed legislationTabatha Abu El-Haj

Nate Persily and Joshua Tucker have issued a new Report, How to fix social media? Start with independent research. A key issue for regulatory responses, they argue, is just “how little outsiders know about what is happening inside these companies.”… Continue reading

“Two Election Workers Targeted by Pro-Trump Media Sue for Defamation”

December 2, 2021, 7:03 pmelection administration, election subversion riskDefamationTabatha Abu El-Haj

Reid J. Epstein, N.Y. Times “Two Georgia election workers who were the targets of a right-wing campaign that falsely claimed they manipulated ballots filed a defamation lawsuit on Thursday against one of the nation’s leading sources of pro-Trump misinformation.” Must… Continue reading

“How the Suburbs Have Changed Gerrymandering”

December 2, 2021, 6:52 pmredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Maggie Astor, N.Y. Times, writes that “Republican gerrymandering efforts used to focus mainly on diluting the influence of cities,” but this cycle the focus is also on cracking the political power of the suburbs. The article notes, further, that… Continue reading

1982 Amendments to VRA–New Article

December 2, 2021, 10:04 amVoting Rights ActNew ScholarshipTabatha Abu El-Haj

A new article by Richard Johnson, Queen Mary, University of London explores conflicts with the Reagan administration over the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act. It pushes back against the view that Republican support can be explained by the… Continue reading

Challenge to Minnesota’s Procedures for Restoring Voting Rights to Felons Heard in State Supreme Court

December 2, 2021, 7:02 amfelon voting, Uncategorizedstate constitutionsTabatha Abu El-Haj

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota’s Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case that may determine whether continuing to disenfranchise voters on parole or on probation violates the state’s constitution. The case turns on the fact that, under the Minnesota… Continue reading

New Civic Center Study–“In Arizona’s two largest counties, fewer than 15% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote

December 2, 2021, 6:46 amUncategorizedmobilization, voter registration, youth voteTabatha Abu El-Haj

New research by Laura W. Brill at the Civics Center shows struggles to register young voters in Arizona. “[F]ewer than 15% of 18-year-old residents of Arizona’s most populous counties, Maricopa County and Pima County, have registered to vote.” These trends… Continue reading

Dec. 3 virtual event: “Self-districting: the ultimate antidote to gerrymandering.”

December 2, 2021, 6:38 amredistrictingEventsTabatha Abu El-Haj

On Friday, Dec. 3, at 1:30 PM ET the Princeton Gerrymandering Project / Electoral Innovation Lab will present a virtual Academic Talk over Zoom with Edward Foley, Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law, the Director… Continue reading