Category Archives: Elections Clause

“Legislative Delegations and the Elections Clause”

August 26, 2015, 7:20 amElections Clause, legislation and legislatures, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Derek Muller has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, FSU Law Review). Here is the abstract: Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission might be viewed as a dispute about the control over redistricting, with a heavy emphasis on… Continue reading

“Election Law Federalism”

August 16, 2015, 8:52 pmelection administration, Elections Clause, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Justin Weinstein-Tull has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Michigan Law Review). Here is the abstract: This Article provides the first comprehensive account of non-Voting Rights Act federal voting laws. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act — long the… Continue reading

Justice Ginsburg Speaks on Citizens United, Arizona Redistricting

July 30, 2015, 7:15 amcampaign finance, Elections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The Justice spoke at Duke. She said this about Citizens United (via Adam Liptak): The court’s worst blunder, she said, was its 2010 decision in Citizens United “because of what has happened to elections in the United States and… Continue reading

“The New Elections Clause”

July 28, 2015, 4:16 pmElections Clause, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Michael Morley has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (“AIRC”) lays to rest several pressing disputes concerning the Elections Clause of the U.S.… Continue reading

“Analysis: Despite Ruling, Redistricting Reformers Pessimistic”

July 6, 2015, 8:15 amElections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Ross Ramsey in the Texas Tribune: Texas does not have an independent redistricting commission and is probably not going to get one. But the lawmakers who have been ignoring the idea for years lost one of their excuses: In a… Continue reading

Must-Read Ned Foley on the Promise of Election Reform after #SCOTUS AZ Case

July 2, 2015, 11:09 amelection administration, Elections Clause, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Leading off Electionline Weekly.

Michael Morley on the SCOTUS AZ Redistricting Decision

June 30, 2015, 1:16 pmElections Clause, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Here is a guest post from Michael Morley, whose article on the Elections Clause issue was cited by Chief Justice Roberts in his AZ dissent: Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld the use of independent redistricting commissions to redraw congressional… Continue reading

AZ Redistricting Roundup

June 30, 2015, 8:05 amElections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT WaPo LAT and LAT Politico MSNBC WSJ AZ Republic USA Today CNN AP Bloomberg Reuters My Slate column on the case is here.

Will the AZ Redistricting Case Save National Popular Vote From Constitutional Challenge?

June 30, 2015, 7:40 amElections Clause, electoral college, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision reading the term “Legislature” capaciously for purposes of the Elections Clause likely means it would be read capaciously for purposes of Article II as well. This means, for example, that if a state by initiative decides… Continue reading

“At the Supreme Court, a Win for Direct Democracy”

June 30, 2015, 7:36 amElections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Rick Pildes NYT oped concludes: The Supreme Court often surprises critics who see it in simplistically ideological terms. As this term and this decision confirm, the current court remains a pragmatically minded institution that interprets legal language with an eye… Continue reading

Ronald Keith Gaddie on AZ Redistricting

June 30, 2015, 7:12 amElections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

LSE blog: One might argue that this is a conservative decision. It leaves the status quo in place, and it defers to the state constitution in matters of state policymaking. States are able to order their institutions, so long… Continue reading

“When ‘Legislature’ May Mean More than ‘Legislature’: Initiated Electoral College Reform and the Ghost of Bush v. Gore”

June 29, 2015, 4:04 pmElections Clause, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I wrote this piece in 2008 for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. After the AZ case, I can say that I now think it is very likely that initiated electoral college reform would satisfy the Legislature requirement of Article II. … Continue reading

“Mindlessly Literal Reading Loses Again; This Supreme Court decision is a dig at Bush v. Gore.”

June 29, 2015, 12:08 pmBush v. Gore reflections, Elections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Here’s my piece at Slate on today’s AZ redistricting ruling from the Supreme Court. It begins: The Supreme Court ended its term Monday with another major rejection of conservative attempts to use wooden, textualist arguments to upset sensible policies. The… Continue reading

Ned Foley on the AZ Redistricting Decision

June 29, 2015, 11:47 amElections Clause, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

At Moritz: “The majority contends that its counterintuitive reading of ‘the Legislature’ is necessary to advance the ‘animatingng principle’ of popular sovereignty.” With this sentence in his dissent (at page 14), Chief Justice Roberts gets to the heart of the… Continue reading