Category Archives: chicanery

“We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority”

October 11, 2023, 7:45 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Very illuminating ProPublica report. I highly recommend their accompanying three-part podcast, which included a lot of information I did not know (such as the attempt by Leo and allies to get the Missouri plan for choosing judges thrown out in… Continue reading

“Senator Robert Menendez Is Indicted in New York”

September 22, 2023, 7:14 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey has been charged in a federal corruption indictment, the authorities said on Friday. The indictment against Mr. Menendez, a 69-year-old Democrat who leads the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, follows a lengthy investigation by… Continue reading

“Mark Meadows’s Testimony in Georgia Case May Have Done Him No Favors”

September 18, 2023, 7:45 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: At issue was whether his actions — as described in the indictment of Mr. Trump, Mr. Meadows and 17 others in Fulton County, Ga., last month — could be considered within the scope of his duties as White House… Continue reading

“‘Where’s Celia?’ An Arizona elections official becomes the target of a virtual manhunt by GOP activists on a public records crusade.”

September 15, 2023, 6:56 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Jen Fifield for Votebeat: They started searching for her in late January. “Where’s CELIA NABOR?” one member of the angry online mob wrote. “Find her,” another wrote. Track her phone, credit cards, social security number, and social media, others… Continue reading

David Levine: “Countering the Distortion of Election Administrator Errors”

September 13, 2023, 3:30 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from David Levine: On September 1, Harris County, Texas’ two-year-old elections department was eliminated after the Texas Legislature passed legislation earlier this year abolishing it and the State Supreme Court refused to stop the… Continue reading

Sounds Like Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Gableman’s Testimony at John Eastman’s California Disbarment Trial Did Not Go Well

September 13, 2023, 3:27 pmchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

LA Times: Cross-examining Gableman last week in Eastman’s trial, Duncan Carling, an attorney representing the California State Bar, asked Gableman if there had been any successful legal challenges to the CTCL grants. “Not yet,” Gableman replied. Was he aware of… Continue reading

North Carolina: “Mark Harris, center of 2018 ballot scandal, announces new congressional campaign”

September 13, 2023, 7:15 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Charlotte Observer: Mark Harris, whose 2018 congressional campaign was at the center of a ballot-harvesting scandal ending in a new election and felony indictments for an operative who worked for him, announced his campaign for Congress on Tuesday. Harris’s own… Continue reading

“What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice’s wife and a key activist started a movement”

September 10, 2023, 2:42 pmcampaign finance, chicanery, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Very deep dive by Politico’s Heidi Pryzybyla: At the time, the Citizens United ruling was widely expected, as the court had already signaled its intentions. When it came, it upended nearly 100 years of campaign spending restrictions. The conservative legal movement seized… Continue reading

“Trump trials: What counts as protected free speech?”

August 29, 2023, 6:45 amchicanery, First Amendment theoryRick Hasen

Christian Science Monitor: “There’s nothing more protected under the First Amendment than political speech,” Mr. Lauro said. Many legal analysts are skeptical this approach will work in a courtroom. There is no First Amendment right to engage in a… Continue reading

“Shaker Heights attorney who supported Trump jailed for felony voter fraud”

August 23, 2023, 8:14 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Cleveland.com: A Shaker Heights attorney who donated to ex-President Donald Trump’s campaign was convicted Tuesday of election fraud for voting twice in the last two general elections. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew Santoli ordered sheriff’s deputies to take … Continue reading

“What the Heck Happened in Coffee County, Georgia?; A detailed look back at the computer intrusion that features prominently in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s election interference indictment”

August 16, 2023, 7:25 amchicanery, election subversion risk, voting technologyRick Hasen

Lawfare deep dive by Anna Bower: Days before the forensics team sets foot in Douglas, which is about 130 miles southwest of Savannah, voters had arrived at the elections office to mark their ballots in the state’s runoff election for… Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “Why the Fulton County Indictment Is Different From Jack Smith’s Case”

August 15, 2023, 7:45 amchicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: If the recent federal indictment of Donald Trump on charges related to his attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election was a streamlined surgical strike aimed at assuring a clean case… Continue reading

The UK Electoral Commission Reports Serious Cyber Hack, Disclosure of Voter Information

August 8, 2023, 8:55 amchicanery, voting technologyRick Hasen

This looks most unfortunate.

“Secure ballots or boondoggle? Arizona county tailors project to politically connected firm”

August 7, 2023, 5:28 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

Votebeat: As an Arizona county prepares to spend up to $1 million in state money to test anti-counterfeit features on ballots, it appears the project was tailored for one company in particular that has pushed the idea with the… Continue reading

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