All posts by Rick Hasen

New Attorney General Bondi, Who Was Once a Foreign Agent for Qatar, Diminishes DOJ Criminal Oversight of Foreign Agents

February 6, 2025, 7:20 amDepartment of Justice, lobbyingRick Hasen

Bloomberg Law: The Justice Department is scaling back enforcement of laws governing foreign lobbying transparency and bribes of foreign officials, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced. The Criminal Division’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit will prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery… Continue reading

“Johnson County Sheriff’s Office finds no evidence of voter fraud in 2020”

February 6, 2025, 7:12 amfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Fox4: After about 880 hours of investigating and $88,000 spent, the Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff’s Office said it has turned up no evidence of voter fraud in 2020. The sheriff’s office said in September 2021, three people reported 100 allegations… Continue reading

Georgia: “Secretary of State asks Attorney General to drop DOJ lawsuit over controversial voting law”

February 6, 2025, 7:08 amDepartment of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

WSB: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is sending a letter to the newly sworn-in United States Attorney General Pam Bondi asking that she “reconsider and withdraw” the lawsuit the Department of Justice filed in 2021. “When she sees our… Continue reading

“Justice Dept. Says It Will Not Bring Charges in Investigation of Project Veritas”

February 6, 2025, 7:05 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it would not bring charges against anyone affiliated with the group Project Veritas over their role in trying to publish the contents of a diary that had been stolen from Joseph R.… Continue reading

“The Liar’s Dividend: Can Politicians Claim Misinformation to Evade Accountability?”

February 6, 2025, 6:45 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Kaylyn Schiff, Daniel Schiff, and Natalia Bueno have written this article for APSR. Here is the abstract: This study addresses the phenomenon of misinformation about misinformation, or politicians “crying wolf” over fake news. Strategic and false claims that stories are… Continue reading

ELB Podcast 6:5: Fair Elections and Voting Rights: What Ahead in the Next Four Years? (Gardner, Karlan, Richer)

February 5, 2025, 5:08 pmELB Podcast, legislation and legislatures, Supreme Court, voting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Season 6, Episode 5 of the ELB Podcast: What will the new Trump Administration and the new Congress do when it comes to voting rights and fair elections? What challenges face state and local election officials going forward? Will the… Continue reading

“The SAVE Act Would Disenfranchise Millions of Citizens”

February 5, 2025, 12:20 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

New from CAP: The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation—in person—when registering to vote or updating their… Continue reading

Must-Read Charlie Savage NYT: “Trump Brazenly Defies Laws in Escalating Executive Power Grab” (Gift link)

February 5, 2025, 7:52 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

NYT: In his first term, President Trump seemed to relish ripping through the norms and standards of self-restraint that his predecessors had respected. Three weeks into his second term, hand-wringing about norms seems quaint. Other presidents have occasionally ignored or… Continue reading

“U.S. government officials privately warn Musk’s blitz appears illegal”

February 5, 2025, 7:47 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

WaPo: The chaotic blitz by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has triggered legal objections across Washington, with officials in at least a half-dozen federal agencies and departments raising alarms about whether the billionaire’s assault on government is breaking the… Continue reading

Florida: “Russian, Uzbek nationals filed 132 fake voter registration applications in Pinellas County: DOJ”

February 5, 2025, 7:45 amchicaneryRick Hasen

WFLA: A Russian national and an Uzbek national have been arrested for allegedly submitting over 100 fake voter registration applications in Pinellas County, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday. Dmitry Shushlebin, 45, and Sanjar Jamilov, 33, were both charged… Continue reading

“The GOP keeps failing to make Nebraska a winner-take-all state. Now it might ask voters to do it”

February 5, 2025, 7:40 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

AP: For decades Republicans in GOP-dominated Nebraska have tried and failed to upend the state’s unusual method of splitting its presidential electoral votes by congressional district. Now, with yet another winner-take-all bill likely to fail, they are proposing to put… Continue reading

“Georgia Republicans renew push for closed primary elections”

February 5, 2025, 7:32 ampolitical parties, primariesRick Hasen

AJC: Top Georgia Republicans are renewing their push to only let voters who register as party members cast ballots in GOP primaries.It’spart of an attempt to guarantee more ideological purity among the nominees. The idea to end Georgia’s open primaries,… Continue reading

Fourth Circuit, in Unpublished Unanimous Order, Won’t Intervene for Now in Dispute Over Winner of North Carolina Supreme Court Election

February 4, 2025, 2:51 pmjudicial electionsRick Hasen

The basis is federal court abstention, giving the state courts the first chance to work this out. But the court tells the lower federal district court to retain jurisdiction to deal with federal issues that could potentially still be in… Continue reading

Pennsylvania Republicans, in Jones Day Petition, Try Again to Get U.S. Supreme Court Interested in Second Guessing State Election Law Decisions Through Independent State Legislature Theory

February 4, 2025, 1:32 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

SCOTUS recently passed on taking up a case out of Montana, but Pennsylvania Republicans are trying again, with this cert petition involving a PA Supreme Court ruling allowing under state law those voters who filed a technically defective mail-in ballot… Continue reading

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law