All posts by Rick Hasen

“Government Workers Cannot Be Fired for Their Political Views”

February 15, 2025, 2:35 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

John Langford and Erica Newland in The Atlantic: Political-patronage systems promote corruption at the expense of effective governance, and Americans grew dissatisfied with the cronyism and moblike rule that flowed from the spoils system. Following decades of effort to enact… Continue reading

“Musk-linked group offered $5m for proof of voter fraud – and came up with nothing”

February 14, 2025, 10:54 amfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Brendan Fischer and Emma Steiner in The Guardian: In May 2024, a flashy ad went viral on social media warning that “across the country, there are real cases of fraud and abuses of the [election] system that have eroded our… Continue reading

“A Supreme Court Race May Shuffle the Rules of Wisconsin’s Democracy, Again”

February 14, 2025, 8:54 amjudicial electionsRick Hasen

Bolts: But voting rights advocates are closely watching the election as well. A host of issues related to voter access—the use of drop boxes, accommodations for disabled voters, and voter ID rules, to name a few—may also ride on this… Continue reading

“How the Trumps Turned an Election Victory Into a Cash Bonanza”

February 14, 2025, 6:17 amchicanery, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

WSJ: When Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos dined with Donald Trump and his wife Melania at Mar-a-Lago in December, there was a lot at stake for both men: Bezos, a titan of industry whose company is crucial to the U.S. economy,… Continue reading

“Order to Drop Adams Case Prompts Resignations in New York and Washington”

February 13, 2025, 2:10 pmchicanery, Department of JusticeRick Hasen

NYT: Manhattan’s U.S. attorney on Thursday resigned rather than obey an order from a top Justice Department official to drop the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams. Then, when Justice Department officials sought to transfer the… Continue reading

“Elections, Courts, and Democratic Crisis: Constitutional Structure and the 2020 Election Cases”

February 13, 2025, 1:08 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Manoj Mate has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, University of Chicago Legal Forum). Here is the abstract: This essay analyzes how the U.S. constitutional order responds to democratic crisis, by examining how the Supreme Court adjudicated cases related to… Continue reading

Top Recent Downloads in Election Law on SSRN

February 13, 2025, 9:18 amtheoryRick Hasen

Here: RankPaperDownloads1.Misconstruing the Electoral Count Act: A Response to Evan A. Davis and David M. Schulte Seth Barrett TillmanNational University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUI Maynooth) – Faculty of LawDate Posted: 13 Jan 2025Last Revised: 04 Feb 20258752.The … Continue reading

“Meta’s Oversight Board should just quit, critics say”

February 13, 2025, 7:08 amcheap speechRick Hasen

WaPo: A coalition of advocacy groups from around the world is calling on Meta’s quasi-independent Oversight Board to resign en masse to protest the social media giant’s recent pullback on content moderation. In an open letter shared with the Tech… Continue reading

“Trump takes aim at agencies that police wrongdoing, protect federal workers”

February 13, 2025, 6:56 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

WaPo: President Donald Trump is taking aim at federal offices that investigate government malfeasance and protect workers from retribution, summarily firing and replacing five top ethics officials this week in an apparent attempt to consolidate his power over the sprawling… Continue reading

“The public lost access to Census Bureau data for days after a Trump order”

February 12, 2025, 12:46 pmcensus litigationRick Hasen

Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: An apparent attempt by the U.S. Census Bureau to follow an executive order by President Trump targeting gender identity led to the public losing access for days to certain key statistics. Close to two weeks… Continue reading

Levitsky and Way: “The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown”

February 12, 2025, 7:44 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Steven Letvitsky and Lucian Way in Foreign Affairs: U.S. democracy will likely break down during the second Trump administration, in the sense that it will cease to meet standard criteria for liberal democracy: full adult suffrage, free and fair… Continue reading

“US Homeland Security says election security personnel placed on leave”

February 12, 2025, 7:18 amauthoritarian threats in US, chicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

Reuters: The Department of Homeland Security, as part of an evaluation of its election security mission, said on Tuesday that personnel focused on misinformation, disinformation and foreign influence operations aimed at U.S. elections have been placed on administrative leave. DHS… Continue reading

Must-Read Bloomberg Law Deep Dive: “Voting Rights Claims Plunge in Wake of Supreme Court Decision”

February 12, 2025, 7:15 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I’ve been waiting to see the results of this study, and it’s consistent with my own research and what I’ve written for my upcoming Yale Law Journal Feature about how Brnovich killed Section 2 vote denial cases: After the Supreme… Continue reading

“The Rise of America’s Broligarchy and What to Do About It”

February 12, 2025, 7:01 amcampaign finance, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

Larry Norden and Dan Weiner in Time: While the corrupting influence of big money over our government is not new, the specifics of this danger are different today than perhaps at any other time in our nation’s history. Tech billionaires,… Continue reading