Monthly Archives: February 2006

Thoughts on the Texas Redistricting Cases

Moritz’s election law site has put up the most recent posts to the electronic roundtable. I have written How to Decide the Texas Redistricting Cases. Dan Lowenstein has written On Election Law Jurisprudence. Rick Pildes has written Political Competition, Redistricting, and the Texas Case. Later today, I expect Ned Foley, who is attending oral arguments in the Vermont and Texas cases, to post a report from the Vermont case on the Moritz site (with another report tomorrow). I would be very pleased to post on my blog reports from others attending the oral arguments. Simply send me an e-mail with your impressions.

Share this:

“Senate Draft on Lobbying Clamps Down on Earmarks; Rules Panel Would Target Narrow Spending and Require Prompt Disclosure of Meals Received”

The Washington Post offers this report. See also Lobbyist Turns Senator But Twists Same Arms in the NY Times, which begins: “It might be said that Senator John Thune went through the revolving door — backward. As a lobbyist in 2003 and 2004, Mr. Thune earned $220,000 from the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, a small but ambitious company in South Dakota. The railroad hopes to rebuild and rehabilitate 1,300 miles of track, the nation’s largest proposed railroad expansion in more than a century. Now, as a junior senator from South Dakota, Mr. Thune is working to make that happen, raising questions about whether there should be curbs on lobbyists-turned-lawmakers in the same way that there are on those who take the more traditional route of leaving Capitol Hill for K Street.” The LA Times offers States Offer Grim Look at Curbing Corruption; Many have rules that Congress is considering. But scandals underscore the difficulty of policing ethics, even with independent oversight.

Share this:

Two Roll Call opeds

Donna Brazile writes Will the Supreme Court Preserve Voting Rights for Minorities on the Texas redistricting case and Adam Lioz writes Two Cases, Two Approaches, One Principle, which begins: “The late, great legal scholar John Hart Ely conceived of judges as referees. Rather than taking sides in political or cultural disputes, Ely believed that the judicial branch should police the political process to ensure fairness and thwart powerful in-groups’ inevitable efforts to stack the deck against their out-of-power rivals.” Paid subscription required.

Share this: