“William Jefferson ordered released from prison after judge drops 7 of 10 counts”
Another shoe drops, on the centipede that is the McDonnell decision. This time it’s former U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, from New Orleans.
All posts by Justin Levitt
Kris Kobach’s effort to amend the NVRA
In this post, I mentioned that we now had a (redacted) look at the “first 365 days” agenda Kris Kobach was photographed holding after his meeting with President-Elect Trump back in November. A number of outlets have picked up… Continue reading
Into the Weeds of the IRS Screening of Nonprofits
Barnaby Zall here, with more details on the latest TIGTA report on IRS nonprofit screening. If you don’t know the difference between BOLOs and TAGs from the world of IRS enforcement in the area of tax-exempt entities, and… Continue reading
North Carolina says it has the “strictest anti-gerrymandering” standards in America.
Politifact says otherwise.
Redistricting and campaign finance
Eliza Newlin Carney goes deep on the funding of redistricting fights.
“Trump supporters eager to ‘drain the swamp’ help fill Republican Party coffers”
Matea Gold reports in the WaPo on a wave of small-dollar contributions to the RNC.
Further parsing the Gill oral argument
Mike Parsons on an exchange prompted by Justice Sotomayor.
Rick Esenberg says the court should just stay out entirely.
CNN talks about the cameras that weren’t inside.
And Eric McGhee, who claims the much-discussed “efficiency gap” as his own, blogs … Continue reading
“Politicians should get over their allergy to academia”
This op-ed about politicians actually takes off from Chief Justice Roberts’ “gobbledygook” quote in Gill. I also had a strong reaction to the “fake folksiness.” (It’s immune to Benadryl.)
“Trump-Tied Florida Lobbying Firm Made $5.2 Million Windfall Since the Election”
From the Miami New Times.
Trouble finding vendor to build Travis County voting system
There have been a few efforts to supplement the existing voting system market with new systems, built more-or-less ground-up by counties with a blue-sky approach. The counties start with a list of attributes and functions rather than grafting new features… Continue reading
MPSA Conference Proposals Due Today
Conference proposals — papers, roundtables, panels — due today for the 2018 MPSA conference.
Facebook and Russia
WSJ:
Facebook Inc. cut references to Russia from a public report in April about manipulation of its platform around the presidential election because of concerns among the company’s lawyers and members of its policy team, according to people familiar… Continue reading
IRS Audit Report on Criteria to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has another audit report released today, on the IRS screening of nonprofits for further scrutiny based on their names or perceived policies. (TIGTA also emphasizes that that IRS policy is no longer in… Continue reading
“Candidate, Party Fundraising Skyrockets in Latest FEC Summary”
BNA: fundraising by parties and congressional candidates reached a record high in the first six months of the 2018 federal election cycle. The article is behind a (ahem) paywall.
UPDATE: Here’s a non-paywall version of the piece.