The WaPo has this post. Update: Alex Halderman, a computer scientist at the University of Michigan, blogs here. Update 2: David Jefferson of Livermore National Laboratories has this post. … Continue reading
Dan Tokaji
Marcy Murninghan argues here that Citizens United “opened the floodgates of corporate money into political campaigns and continues to reverberate throughout public life.” … Continue reading
First Read has this post on Republican-leaning outside groups outspending Democratic-leaning groups. In related news, Democracy 21 and Campaign Legal Center have asked the IRS to investigate Crossroads GPS, while Think Progress has this post on the U.S. Chamber of … Continue reading
You can find the audio of yesterday’s argument in Thalheimer v. City of San Diego here. … Continue reading
At 538, Nate Silver comments on the possibility of a third-party candidate in 2012, suggested by Thomas Friedman. … Continue reading
Lisa Gilbert looks into it on HuffPost. … Continue reading
The Center for Public Integrity has published this post from Peter Stone. … Continue reading
Eliza Carney has this column. … Continue reading
CNN reports here and the NYT here on a federal indictment against eleven people, including four Alabama state legislators, alleging bribery and offers to bribe in connection with proposed gaming legislation. My colleague Donald Tobin offers these thoughts on the … Continue reading
The WaPo editorializes here in support of DOJ’s action in the New Black Panther case. … Continue reading
The First Circuit will hear argument tomorrow in Respect Maine PAC v. McKee, which seeks a preliminary injunction against Maine’s public financing law. An amicus brief from the Brennan Center and Demos may be found here. (If anyone has a … Continue reading
If you happen to be in San Francisco, the Commonwealth Club will be hosting Switzerland’s Federal Chancellor Corina Casanova on Wednesday evening. … Continue reading
The current issue has two articles likely to be of particular interest to legislation and election law scholars: Aaron-Andrew Bruhl’s Burying the “Continuing Body” Theory of the Senate and Michael LeRoy’s Do Partisan Elections of Judges Produce Unequal Justice When … Continue reading
Politico reports here on the shift in political spending by the insurance industry, health care professionals, and drugmakers. … Continue reading
The Miami Herald has this story. … Continue reading
The WaPo reports here. … Continue reading
Today is the deadline for registering to vote in many states. Brian Siebel of the Fair Elections Legal Network has this comment on HuffPost on the deadlines for new registrants and those who’ve moved. … Continue reading
Michael McDonald has created this webpage, which assesses the likely impact of this year’s elections on congressional redistricting on a state-by-state basis I’m sure it will quickly become a vital resource, just as his early voting statistics did in 2008. … Continue reading
The WaPo reports here. … Continue reading
The NYT has this piece on campaign spending through tax-exempt nonprofits . . . and how hard it is to follow the money to its source. … Continue reading
Thomas Friedman thinks we need one. … Continue reading
The IndyStar has this comment on an admission by the Republican candidate for Secretary of State that has Democrats crying “voter fraud” — namely, that he continued to serve on his town council after moving out of the district he … Continue reading
From The New Republic ($) and Carolina Journal. … Continue reading
Fox News reports here on allegations of absentee ballot fraud on the part of a Daytona Beach City Commissioner. … Continue reading
The NYT reports here and Politico here on News Corporation’s donation to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. … Continue reading
Today’s Sacramento Bee offers dueling commentaries from Dan Lowenstein and David Pacheco on Proposition 20 (Lowenstein opposes, Pacheco supports) and Proposition 27 (Pacheco opposes, Lowenstein supports). … Continue reading
The WSJ reports here on proposed Amendments 5 and 6. … Continue reading
For election geeks only: electionlineWeekly lists here “the races with the most compelling implications for election administrators.” … Continue reading
WaPo has this video interview. … Continue reading
Meredith McGehee has this post on CLC Blog. … Continue reading
Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden explains here that Rahm Emanel probably won’t have a problem establishing his Chicago residency, and thus his eligibility to serve as Mayor, given that he had a home there to which he always intended to … Continue reading
Floyd Abrams has this piece in the Yale L.J. Pocket Part. … Continue reading
Barry Burden, David Canon, Stephane Lavertu, Ken Mayer, and Donald Moynihan have posted this paper. (Thanks to Ned Foley for the pointer.) Here’s the abstract: The method by which we select public officials can have a significant effect on their … Continue reading
Abby Thernstrom and Roger Clegg have these thoughts on the broader implications of Coates’ testimony last week. … Continue reading
BNA reports here($) on the House’s passage of FEIA (H.R. 512), which would prohibit state chief election officials from serving in a leadership role in federal campaigns. The bill required — and received — a two-thirds vote because it was … Continue reading
BNA has this report ($) and WSJ blog this one on Senator Patrick Leahy’s introduction of a bill to amend the “honest services” statute. This is the statute that was at issue in Skilling v. United States, which held that … Continue reading
See here, here, here, and here for reports on the case challenging a law that dates back to 1912. Arguments on cross-motions for summary judgment were heard yesterday, and a decision is expected by November. … Continue reading
Politico reports here on a decision of the DC District Court, denying Judicial Watch’s request for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s records concerning campaign contributions. … Continue reading
Legal Ethics Forum has this post on the indictment of a former NJ state legislator, arising from money his law firm received, purportedly for legal services but really (the indictment alleges) for supporting a development project. The linked story reports … Continue reading
The Center for Responsive Politics opensecrets.org website has launched a two-week series on the money behind the 2010 congressional elections. It includes this story on Republicans’ financial advantages in races for open House seats. … Continue reading
SCOTUS Blog reports here on the order denying Herb Lux’s request for an order requiring Virginia to count petition signatures that he personally collected and witnessed, in an effort to run as an independent candidate for Virginia’s Seventh CD. … Continue reading
See here for a description of and link to an interesting ALJ decision from Colorado, mentioned in this NYT editorial. The decision concludes that a group advocating against the retention of state judges must register as a political committee, thus … Continue reading
The NYT reports here on the remarks of George Gonzalez, NYC Board of Elections ED, at a state senate hearing. … Continue reading
The EAC has issued this release, noting that 30.3% of people vote early in 2008. … Continue reading
National Law Journal reports here on challenges to judicial campaign speech limits in Indiana and Wisconsin, brought by Jim Bopp. … Continue reading
Tomorrow, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania will be hosting a conference entitled “Citizens United and the Changing Political Role of the Corporation.” The program may be found here. Thanks to Rick Piides, who will be presenting at … Continue reading
Today, the University of Baltimore School of Law will host a symposium entitled “A Vision for Voting: Celebrating 45 Years, Creating a Vision for the Future,” organized by Prof. Gilda Daniels. The agenda is here. The symposium includes panels on … Continue reading
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has denied the request of Proposition 8 supporters to extend the stay of his order enjoining California’s ban on same-sex marriages. Today’s order may be found here and the SF Chronicle has this report. When … Continue reading
The NYT reports here on developments in the former Illinois Governor’s corruption trial. … Continue reading
Gerry Hebert offers these thoughts on why more localities haven’t bailed out of Section 5 coverage — and why they should. … Continue reading