Read PA State Court Opinion Concluding Elon Musk Did Not Engage in an Illegal Lottery with His $1 Million Giveaway to a Registered Voter (Opinion Does Not Discuss Legality Under Federal Anti-Vote Buying Law)
You can read it at this link.
All posts by Rick Hasen
“As Trump Refers to Third Term, Democrat Wants to Leave No Constitutional Loophole”
NYT:
When President-elect Donald J. Trump met with House Republicans on Wednesday morning, he suggested he might need their help to try to circumvent the Constitution and run for a third term in the future — a comment that was… Continue reading
“Hovde tells talk radio host he lost, but stops short of conceding to Baldwin”
Wisconsin Examiner:
Breaking a six-day silence after unofficial returns showed him losing to Sen. Tammy Baldwin, whom AP declared the winner of the Wisconsin U.S. Senate race by less than 1 percentage point, Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde on Tuesday… Continue reading
Cleta Mitchell Wants Every Lawyer in the Voting Section (and Likely in the Civil Rights Division) of the Department of Justice to Be Terminated
We’ll see how much sway her argument has with Trump and the new AG.
“Jack Smith Plans to Step Down as Special Counsel Before Trump Takes Office”
NYT:
Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January, people familiar with his… Continue reading
“Injunction Halting Kansas Election Law Reversed on Appeal”
Bloomberg Law:
An injunction blocking a Kansas law barring organizations from sending mail ballot applications to voters containing personalized information was reversed by the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday,
The court upended a ruling of the US District Court for the… Continue reading
“10 most-cited Election Law faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023”
Brian Leiter:
Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited election law faculty in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that… Continue reading
Sad News: Ted Olson Has Passed Away
Leading attorney Ted Olson of Gibson Dunn has passed away. He argued many important cases at the Supreme Court, including (most relevant to election law) Bush v. Gore and Citizens United. He was an excellent lawyer, serving as well… Continue reading
“The Internal Law of Democracy”
Kevin Stack has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Vanderbilt Law Review). Here is the abstract:
The conventional focus of election law is the constitutional, statutory, and judicial constraints on election officials. But the operation of elections also depends on… Continue reading
Vladeck: “Nor, assuming he abides by the 22nd Amendment limiting a president to two terms, does Mr. Trump have to worry about running for re-election.”
Quite the aside from Steve Vladeck today in the NYT!
Republican Party Appeal of Lower Court Order Requiring the Counting of Misdated/Undated But Timely Absentee Ballots Reaches Pennsylvania Supreme Court
You can read the petition in Baxter at this link.
Republicans raise the independent state legislature theory at page 34 of the brief, potentially teeing up this issue for eventual review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Trump Allies Gain Power Over Elections in Arizona’s Largest County”
Bolts:
Justin Heap, an Arizona lawmaker who has pushed for severe voting restrictions and whose campaign was led by an indicted 2020 “fake elector” for Donald Trump, has won control of one of the country’s most important local elections offices. … Continue reading
Bluesky, Smiling at Me: Why I Plan to Post Substantive Commentary at Blue Sky (rickhasen.bsky.social) Rather than Threads or X (Twitter) (Automated Postings Still Will Appear on Threads and X)
I pulled back a few years ago from posting on X once the platform under Elon Musk became more toxic and as it turned from fighting the spread of election disinformation to becoming a main vector for it. I still… Continue reading
“Why Was There a Broad Drop-Off in Democratic Turnout in 2024?”
NYT:
Voters in liberal strongholds across the country, from city centers to suburban stretches, failed to show up to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris at the levels they had for Joseph R. Biden Jr. four years earlier, contributing significantly… Continue reading