All posts by Rick Hasen

“Malapportionment: A Murder Mystery”

March 10, 2025, 9:55 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Daniel Wodak has posted this paper (forthcoming, Northwestern University Law Review). Here is the abstract: Malapportionment—electoral districts with divergent ratios of people to representation—was ruled to be unconstitutional in a widely venerated series of cases before the Warren Court. Those… Continue reading

“Aftershocks of Supreme Court’s Immunity Ruling Echo in New Trump Cases”

March 10, 2025, 7:59 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak for the NYT: The first case cited as precedent in the first Supreme Court brief filed by lawyers for President Trump since he took office this year was Trump v. United States, the July decision that gave… Continue reading

“Trump’s secret power protection plan”

March 10, 2025, 7:55 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Axios: Anyone who thinks President Trump‘s mesmerizing hold over the GOP will slip if his poll numbers slide is missing one of his biggest innovations in American politics: The creation of a cash-flush political operation that has raked in… Continue reading

“Postal workers conducting the census is part of a Trump pitch for taking over USPS”

March 10, 2025, 7:53 amcensus litigationRick Hasen

Hansi Lo Wang for NPR.

“‘We’re burning daylight here’: Latest Jan. 6 probe slow to get off the ground”

March 9, 2025, 9:43 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Roll Call: Rep. Barry Loudermilk is eager to make his next move on Jan. 6, 2021. After leading a reinvestigation of the storming of the Capitol during the last Congress, the Georgia Republican had high hopes for the 119th. With… Continue reading

“In Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, both sides take aim at the other’s billionaire backers”

March 8, 2025, 5:19 pmcampaign finance, judicial elections, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

NBC News: The Wisconsin Supreme Court contest is shaping up to be a battle of billionaires, with each side in the race casting the other’s most prominent donors as boogeymen. Liberal megadonors like George Soros and outside groups with ties… Continue reading

“Anger at Elon Musk turns violent with molotov cocktails and gunfire at Tesla lots”

March 8, 2025, 2:01 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo on these despicable acts: Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, more than a dozen violent or destructive actshave been directed at Tesla facilities, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports reviewed by The Washington Post.… Continue reading

“Lawyers Plan to Sue Federal Government on Behalf of Jan. 6 Rioters”

March 8, 2025, 7:09 amchicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

NYT: A team of lawyers is preparing to sue the federal government on behalf of hundreds of people pardoned by President Trump for their role in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, claiming that the rioters were… Continue reading

“Utah governor likely to sign legislation phasing out universal mail ballots”

March 8, 2025, 7:03 amelection administrationRick Hasen

AP: Utah would stop mailing ballots to all voters automatically under a bill sent to its Republican governor as the state’s 2025 legislative session wrapped up on Friday. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a proposal requiring voters to opt in to … Continue reading

“Flabbergasted Wisconsin elections officials to depose Madison workers over uncounted ballots”

March 8, 2025, 7:01 amelection administrationRick Hasen

AP: Wisconsin election officials voted Friday to force Madison city workers to sit for depositions as they try to learn more about how nearly 200 absentee ballots in November’s election went uncounted. The uncounted ballots in the state’s capital… Continue reading

“The November Election That Still Hasn’t Been Certified; North Carolinians voted in a state-supreme-court election four months ago. What’s going on?”

March 7, 2025, 6:46 amelection subversion risk, judicial electionsRick Hasen

David Graham for The Atlantic: Yesterday marked four months since Election Day, but North Carolinians somehow still don’t know who will fill a key seat on the state supreme court. The problem is not that no one knows who won.… Continue reading

“Pennsylvania Election Code needs fixes, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt says”

March 7, 2025, 6:44 amelection administrationRick Hasen

Votebeat: Pennsylvania lawmakers need to update the century-old Election Code to fix the most labor-intensive processes and make the voting experience as uniform as possible, the state’s top election official said. Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schimdt made the comments… Continue reading

“Despite Musk, progressives are winning the ad war in Wisconsin”

March 7, 2025, 6:32 amcampaign finance, campaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

The Downballot: Despite Elon Musk’s multi-million dollar spending spree, progressives retain an advantage on the airwaves in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race—and now they’re making an issue of Musk’s involvement, too. At the same time, a rare poll shows liberal Judge… Continue reading