All posts by Rick Hasen

“There’s reason to be worried about the plethora of pardons from Trump and Biden”

January 22, 2025, 7:44 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Kyle Cheney for Politico: Over a span of 12 hours, two presidents went on a clemency spree. The extraordinary wave of pardons Monday — from Joe Biden as he left the White House and from Donald Trump as soon as… Continue reading

“Riggs seeks earliest possible oral argument in NC Supreme Court election dispute”

January 22, 2025, 7:41 amjudicial elections, recountsRick Hasen

Carolina Journal reports.

“‘F–k it: Release ’em all’: Why Trump embraced broad Jan. 6 pardons”

January 22, 2025, 7:36 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Marc Caputo for Axios: President Trump‘s sweeping pardons for 1,500 Jan. 6 criminals and defendants were a last-minute, rip-the-bandage-off decision to try to move past the issue quickly, White House advisers familiar with the Trump team’s discussions tell Axios.… Continue reading

“Beneath a veneer of calm, Trump’s inauguration holds warning signs for US democracy”

January 21, 2025, 2:11 pmauthoritarian threats in US, election subversion riskRick Hasen

Nick Riccardi for AP: All the living former presidents were there and the outgoing president amicably greeted his successor, who gave a speech about the country’s bright future and who left to the blare of a brass band. At first… Continue reading

Jan. 28 SDP Event with Amy Gardner, Pam Karlan, and Stephen Richer: “Fair Elections and Voting Rights: What’s Ahead in the Next Four Years?”

January 21, 2025, 2:05 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

January 28 Fair Elections and Voting Rights: What’s Ahead in the Next Four Years? Register for the webinar here. In-person registration here. Lunch will be provided.Tuesday, January 28, 12:15pm-1:15pm PT Room 1327 at UCLA Law and onlineAmy… Continue reading

Time Magazine: Musk Threatens Super PAC Spending Against Senators Who Don’t Vote to Confirm Trump Cabinet Nominees

January 21, 2025, 2:03 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Time: Another source familiar with the matter tells TIME that a Trump ally informed Ernst that the President would support a primary challenge against her in Iowa—where Trump won the caucuses last year by roughly 30 points—if she blocked Hegseth. At… Continue reading

New Review of Diamond, Foley, and Pildes Book on Election Reform to Counter Extremism and Polarization

January 21, 2025, 1:59 pmpolitical polarizationRick Hasen

Review by Walter Horn (and more thoughts from him here).

CAP/LDF Jan. 30 Virtual Event: “Winning the Fight for Voting Rights: State Voting Rights Acts”

January 21, 2025, 1:56 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Quite a lineup, including Tim Walz and Terri Sewell.

“Trump Grants Sweeping Clemency to All Jan. 6 Rioters”

January 21, 2025, 7:50 amauthoritarian threats in US, chicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

It is hard to know what to even say about this affront to the rule of law and a reversing of the convictions of those who sought to overturn the results of a fair and legitimate election in 2020. Trump’s… Continue reading

Supreme Court Turns Down Two Major Election Law Cases, One on Independent State Legislature Theory

January 21, 2025, 7:39 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

The Supreme Court passed up its best opportunity to give greater content to the independent state legislature theory outside the context of a hot presidential election, in a case out of Montana. It is somewhat surprising that the Court did… Continue reading

Quote of the Day

January 21, 2025, 7:35 amchicaneryRick Hasen

“He knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers. Those vote-counting computers . . .And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide.” –Donald Trump, speaking about Elon Musk, at a pre-inauguration rally, as quoted by Newsweek.

“Presidents Can’t End Birthright Citizenship”

January 21, 2025, 7:26 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Thomas Wolf for the Brennan Center: President Trump claimed to end birthright citizenship on the first day of his second term. Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional, in direct conflict with the plain language of the 14th Amendment and over a… Continue reading

“Trump rescinds Biden’s census order, clearing a path for reshaping election maps”

January 21, 2025, 7:18 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: Among the dozens of Biden-era executive orders that President Trump revoked on Monday was one that had reversed the first Trump administration’s unprecedented policy of altering a key set of census results. Since the first… Continue reading

“A landslide? Just 0.15 percent of all voters determined Trump’s 2024 victory”

January 21, 2025, 7:17 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

Mark Haidar and Aiden Calvelli in The Hill.

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law