The NYT has broken a story that includes coverage of confidential meetings I’ve been involved in with the country’s business leaders since the election about what role they can play in supporting the stability of American democracy. I think the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Greg Sargent on Lincoln Project backing the For the People Act, … Continue reading
Oh my: GOP chair of the Gwinnett County elections board on why she wants GA legislature to impose new restrictions on voting. “They don’t have to change all of them, but they’ve got to change the major parts of them … Continue reading
Michael Porter and Bruce Freed USA Today oped: U.S. corporations and their leaders are speaking out forcefully about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the need to transition quickly to the Biden era. However, they face a serious problem — their political spending … Continue reading
WaPo reports. The 147 Republican lawmakers who opposed certification of the presidential election this month have lost the support of many of their largest corporate backers — but not all of them.The Washington Post contacted the 30 companies that gave … Continue reading
This is an illuminating story from the Austin American-Statesman about the spread of misinformation. The context is whether President Trump would lose his pension, travel stipend, and other benefits if convicted in the Senate trial. The false information here is … Continue reading
WaPo: U.S. defense officials say the federal government is conducting insider-threat screening on the 25,000 National Guard troops who have begun flowing into the nation’s capital to secure the inauguration, as concerns intensify about extremism in the ranks.The extra precaution … Continue reading
WaPo: Henry “Enrique” Tarrio had already publicized his plans to participate in the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. The 36-year-old Miami resident and national chairman of the Proud Boys posted on social media that he would direct small teams … Continue reading
WaPo: President Trump stands as a singular figure in American history for his willingness to entertain conspiracy theories from the Oval Office, and none has been more damaging or far reaching than his unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
WaPo: Despite those second thoughts, LaRock remains firmly defiant about the election and its aftermath. He refuses to accept that President-elect Joe Biden’s win was legitimate, even though Trump’s claims of massive fraud lack evidence and have been rejected by … Continue reading
Wow announcement via email: Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) launched the groundbreaking Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP), an innovative educational and training opportunity that will produce the next generation of civil rights attorneys to serve Black communities in the South. … Continue reading
Detroit News: The Michigan Republican Party wants to replace the GOP member of the Board of State Canvassers who cast the pivotal vote to certify election results in favor of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. With party activists calling for certification to … Continue reading
AP: Members of President Donald Trump’s failed presidential campaign played key roles in orchestrating the Washington rally that spawned a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to an Associated Press review of records, undercutting claims the event was the brainchild of … Continue reading
WaPo: As Biden prepares to be sworn into office surrounded by more than 20,000 National Guard troops protecting the inauguration from one of the gravest domestic terrorism threats in U.S. history, Democrats and other Trump critics are pushing Republicans to renounce the party’s embrace … Continue reading
WaPo-ABC Poll: Overall, more than 6 in 10 Americans say Biden was legitimately elected as the 46th president, including more than 9 in 10 Democrats and more than 6 in 10 independents. But 7 in 10 Republicans say he was … Continue reading
Bob Bauer and Dana Remus on lessons learned: With the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris only days away, there is value in reflecting once again on the extraordinary strength and resilience of American democracy. The … Continue reading
NYT: Prosecutors in Georgia appear increasingly likely to open a criminal investigation of President Trump over his attempts to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 election, an inquiry into offenses that would be beyond his federal pardon power.The new … Continue reading
Barton in The Atlantic: Here is the nub of our predicament. Donald Trump attempted democracide, and he had help. The victim survived but suffered grievous wounds. American democracy now faces a long convalescence in an environment of ongoing attacks. Trump … Continue reading
Webinar registration for University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement where I’ll be interviewed by the Center’s Michelle Deutchman: Topic: Elections, Insurrection and Inauguration: What’s Next for Democracy? Description: Following the recent insurrection at the United … Continue reading
Syracuse.com reports. … Continue reading
While we are on the subject of how the structure of campaign finance laws and practices can affect democratic governance, I want to remind readers of the recent empirical paper Michael Norton and I published, which shows that the more … Continue reading
This is a new article by Michael Barber, which further confirms what we’ve known about which donors support the ideological more extreme candidates and which support more moderates. I’ve written about these issues and what we know empirically about them … Continue reading
NYT: Although Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has privately told advisers that he approves of the impeachment drive and believes it could help his party purge itself of Mr. Trump, he refused to begin the proceedings this … Continue reading
Michael Conklin has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: On November 10, 2020, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick put out a press release stating, in relevant part, “[S]tarting today [I] will pay up to $1 million to … Continue reading
You can watch my conversation from yesterday with my UCI Law colleague Henry Weinstein at this link. … Continue reading
This is a Wow story from Yahoo News if confirmed. … Continue reading
AP: A Republican-backed push to fast-track redistricting lawsuits in the Wisconsin Supreme Court met with skepticism during a Thursday hearing, with the court’s conservative chief justice questioning why the proposal was necessary and how the thinly staffed court could be … Continue reading
Just watch this: i get that this is a daily show bit but my god some of these are so incriminating in hindsight pic.twitter.com/qr8S3dCRYn— j.d. durkin (@jiveDurkey) January 14, 2021 … Continue reading
NBC Philadelphia: Republicans may have lost a court battle over a Pennsylvania state senate seat in western Pennsylvania, but the argument over how to count certain mail-in ballots at the heart of the case could lead to changes to the … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Next up are two election-law cases. The petitions in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar, 20-542, and Scarnati v. Pennsylvania Democratic Party, 20-574, involve challenges to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s extension of an absentee-voting deadline last year. The challengers originally sought to undo the … Continue reading
Historian Eric Foner in WaPo: Once Reconstruction ended, Section Three fell into disuse. But it remains in the Constitution. Its language — “no person,” “any office” — makes no exception for the president. Applying the 14th Amendment to Trump via … Continue reading
Gizmodo: At least several users of the far-right social network Parler appear to be among the horde of rioters that managed to penetrate deep inside the U.S. Capitol building and into areas normally restricted to the public, according to GPS … Continue reading
Read it here. … Continue reading
I was a guest on the Today, Explained podcast by Vox talking about my recent Slate piece, The Only Way to Save American Democracy Now. … Continue reading
AJC: The acting U.S. attorney for Northern Georgia, who was named after his predecessor reportedly angered President Trump for not finding election fraud, told staffers in a conference call Monday that he dismissed two election fraud cases on his first day.“I would … Continue reading
Post-Gazette: In a ruling issued Tuesday, a federal judge in Pittsburgh upheld the counting of a few hundred ballots in Pennsylvania’s 45th Senatorial District that had defects on their outer envelopes, again validating Democratic Sen. Jim Brewster’s victory and handing … Continue reading
One important direction for improving our election system is taking election administration out of the hands of partisan actors and moving toward more professional election administration, as in many other democracies. I wanted to flag this event I’ll be participating … Continue reading
NYT: House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday for his role in inflaming a mob that attacked the Capitol, scheduling a Wednesday vote to charge the president with “inciting violence against the government of the United States” … Continue reading
Our hearts continue to go out to fellow election law prof and Member of Congress Jamie Raskin and his family. Jamie is now deeply involved in impeachment efforts. See also this Atlantic profile as well as Jamie’s moving tribute to … Continue reading
WaPo: Several U.S. Capitol Police officers have been suspended and more than a dozen others are under investigation for suspected involvement with or inappropriate support for the demonstration last week that turned into a deadly riot at the Capitol, according … Continue reading
Virtual event at Ohio State: The horrendous attack on the Capitol last Wednesday, and the assault upon free and fair elections that it signifies, makes this final session of our series of roundtable discussions all the more urgent. As with … Continue reading
NYT: As companies from Coca-Cola to Amazon to Citigroup appear to be tripping over each other to declare that they are “pausing” or “reassessing” donations to Republicans who sought to overturn the election — and, in some cases, suspending giving to both … Continue reading
I just posted a new article, forthcoming in the NYU Law Review, on the novel vote dilution claims that proliferated in the litigation about the 2020 election. The abstract is below: We may be witnessing the emergence of a new … Continue reading
A reader highlighted this aspect of the joint statement issued by these representatives: … Continue reading
Syracuse.com: The Oneida County Board of Elections ignored a state law in the November election, a failure that meant 700 voters’ ballots weren’t counted for President and big statewide races.The mistake — Oneida County’s latest — surfaced as part of a court case … Continue reading
Beverly Gage and Emily Bazelon for the NYT. … Continue reading
CNN: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said for the first time Sunday the House will move to impeach President Donald Trump if Vice President Mike Pence does not remove him.Pelosi said the House will attempt to pass a resolution by unanimous consent … Continue reading
WaPo: Three days after a mob attack on the U.S. Capitol carried out in President Trump’s name, Republican leaders had yet to outline plans to hold anyone accountable or to alter a platform and priorities lashed to the outgoing Republican … Continue reading
AP: They came from across America, summoned by President Donald Trump to march on Washington in support of his false claim that the November election was stolen and to stop the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden as the victor.“Big … Continue reading