Available on SSRN. From the abstract: Litigants seeking to lift burdens on the right to vote and judges adjudicating these claims have an unremarkable problem—what is the benchmark for measuring the nature of these burdens? Legal theories abound for claims … Continue reading
Category Archives: election law and constitutional law
Earlier today, Rick noted the 5th Circuit’s opinion on Texas’s voter ID law. I agree with much of his critique of the court’s resolution of the section 3(c) preclearance issue. In my post on the Texas redistricting cases earlier this … Continue reading
Yesterday, as this blog noted, Governor Cooper filed his brief in his effort to block the last-minute changes the North Carolina legislature made to abolish the existing state board of elections and replace it with a newly configured one. The … Continue reading
Seth Tillman blogs. … Continue reading
From APSA’s Law and Courts Section, featuring short papers by J.H. Snider, Sandy Levinson, John Dinan, and Carol Weissert. Here’s a description: When analyzing the consequences of elections for the development of the U.S. Constitution, scholars concentrate on elections for … Continue reading
(with Joey Fishkin, University of Texas Law School) Bob Bauer just offered a thoughtful and engaging commentary on our work and a new report by the Brennan Center, both focused on the relationship between the political parties and campaign finance. … Continue reading
With Joey Fishkin, University of Texas Law School The Brennan Center has just released a new report on the future of campaign finance. There are going to be a lot of reports like these during the next few years as … Continue reading
Guy-Urïel Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, have a new piece in the Iowa Law Review. I offered a commentary, here. Just to give you a flavor for the piece is, here’s a brief excerpt from my introduction, which offers a rough summary … Continue reading
Coauthored with Joseph Fishkin, University of Texas Law School In yesterday’s post, we described how major functions once performed by official party organizations are migrating instead to what we call shadow parties—groups situated outside the official party apparatus, but clearly … Continue reading
Coauthored with Joseph Fishkin, University of Texas Law School A recent story perfectly embodied the central puzzle in a paper that we recently published in the Supreme Court Review. The story tells about the war between the Koch brothers … Continue reading
Over at Balkinization, I’ve been blogging (here, here, here, and here) about the benefits associated with spillovers, which occur when one state’s policies affect citizens of another state. Most of those arguments have to do with my other field, federalism. … Continue reading
The DNC Executive Committee has just endorsed the idea that we should amend the Constitution to add a right to vote. I’m entirely in favor of a constitutional right to vote. But I’m against amending the Constitution to add it. … Continue reading
For the last few days, I’ve been blogging about a new paper of mine on Windsor v. United States over on Balkinization (here, here, and here). I offer a new spin on it, one that invokes Ely’s Democracy and Distrust … Continue reading
Justin here, with a thought on last week’s oral argument in two consolidated cases about Alabama’s redistricting process. There’s an issue lurking at the heart of the dispute that may be difficult to spot in the transcript. The cases concern the … Continue reading
And, of course, we’ve now got a SCOTUS ruling on Texas ID. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the Court refused to vacate the 5th Circuit’s stay. In real-person, that means that despite a full trial leading to a … Continue reading
Bauer finds the difference between Judges Easterbrook and Posner (and the difference between Crawford and the instant Wisconsin struggle) to be their consideration of legislative motive. Maybe. But I think there’s (perhaps also) a difference between the quality of the factual … Continue reading
Still more news from the courts. Kentucky’s ban on electioneering was struck down today. The ban extended 300 feet from the entrance to any building used for voting, and plaintiff John Russell originally brought suit to ensure that he could … Continue reading
Fascinating. Farfetched, but fascinating. … Continue reading
From the Brennan Center and CLC, and from Texas’s AG. … Continue reading
Rick just quoted from Judge Costa’s concurrence in the 5th Circuit panel’s order — and I’d like to highlight one part of that concurrence. Judge Costa says, citing cases from Ohio and North Carolina, that “in two recent decisions, [the … Continue reading
From the editorial board of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. … Continue reading
And also two from Michael Hiltzik. One on Posner and voter ID, one on Chevron’s hefty spending on Richmond, CA, municipal races (with a pointed infographic). And I’ll repeat my question from Friday: anyone know if $3 million is the largest … Continue reading
Andrew Cohen connects Judge Ramos to Judge Posner in The Week. … Continue reading
Today’s editorial in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. … Continue reading
Looks like the 5th Circuit may act by the end of the weekend or first thing next week. … Continue reading
The Journal-Sentinel reviews the 7th Circuit’s 5-5 split over rehearing the panel opinion reversing the lower court’s injunction. … Continue reading
The Wall St. Journal’s week-end summary of the recent hullaballoo. … Continue reading
The N.Y. Times parses what’s happened and what’s next regarding the most prominent election administration tussles this week. … Continue reading
NPR’s latest, on All Things Considered. … Continue reading
More breaking news: The 7th Circuit, sitting en banc, just split again 5-5 over whether to review the panel opinion’s decision on the merits. Judge Posner had apparently asked for the vote himself, and wrote 28 pages disagreeing with the … Continue reading
So promises the AG. … Continue reading
Reports from AP, HuffPo, LA Times, MSNBC, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, USA Today, Wall St. Journal. And from the plaintiffs’ counsel — Brennan Center, CLC, and LDF react. … Continue reading
Rick says that tonight’s TX ID case (which does, indeed, enter a permanent injunction against the ID law – on pp. 142-143 of the opinion) creates a huge Purcell problem. I’m not so sure. To be clear, I can understand … Continue reading
Texas-sized news out of the Lone Star State. A federal court has struck down Texas’s voter ID law. It violates the Voting Rights Act, it violates the constitutional prohibition on poll taxes, it violates the constitutional prohibition of unjustified burdens, … Continue reading
Prof. Chris Elmendorf, over at the Election Law @ Moritz site, dives deep on the 7th Circuit’s WI voter ID decision. It begins: Earlier this week Rick Hasen blasted Judge Easterbook’s opinion upholding Wisconsin’s voter ID requirement as cavalier with … Continue reading
Sure, just after Rick leaves. Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court stayed the 4th Circuit’s earlier opinion blocking North Carolina’s rollback of same-day registration and its decision to no longer count ballots cast out-of-precinct. Free of the double negatives: the … Continue reading
Rick mentioned the Virginia congressional redistricting decision earlier today. I’ve already seen some confusion about this: the decision doesn’t depend on Shelby County. Indeed, as I read it, the decision would have been exactly the the same if Shelby County came out differently … Continue reading
Authored by Heather Gerken, Wade Gibson, and Webb Lyons Bob Bauer’s recent post on our “nondisclosure disclosure” proposal offers yet-another reminder why he was treated as an honorary member of the academic tribe long before he started teaching at Yale … Continue reading
Seth Tillman has posted this draft on SSRN. From the abstract: This paper discusses the scope of the Constitution’s Disqualification Clause (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7) and the original public meaning of its “office . . . under the … Continue reading
Those interested in the intersection between election law and federalism might want to take a look at a new Feature in the Yale Law Journal, which I blog about here. Entitled “Federalism as the New Nationalism,” it marks the emergence … Continue reading
The editorial board suggests work ahead for the DOJ and for Congress — including proposals for a constitutional amendment. … Continue reading
Every once in a while, these sorts of stories crop up overseas (in the UK, for example, or Thailand): a winning candidate is barred from office based on campaign statements. Now, it’s hit American shores: the winner of the race … Continue reading
FairVote has released this policy brief on HJR44. As I mentioned at this Netroots Nation panel the other day, I’m wary but willing to be convinced. There are many different ways in which election-related rights are now constitutionally protected, and — … Continue reading
Kirsten Nussbaumer: “In Louisiana v. Bryson, the state of Louisiana has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to exclude so-called “non-immigrant foreign nationals” from the federal census count for purposes of interstate apportionment of congressional representatives. If Louisiana has a shot, … Continue reading
Kirsten Nussbauer has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: At the time of the American founding, discourse about election regulation was shaped by a venerated — but now long-forgotten — “republican” (or “whig”) tradition that taught that … Continue reading