Monthly Archives: September 2012
Supreme Court Unanimously Loosens Congressional Redistricting Standards a Bit in West Virginia Case
You can find the unanimous per curiam decision appended to this order list.
The upshot is that very small deviations in the population of congressional districts may be justified by legitimate state interests, such as keeping political subdivisions together and… Continue reading
“New Rules Upend House Re-Election Races in California”
NYT on the politics of the top two primary.
“Romney Camp Talks of Dialing Down Fund-Raising”
NYT’s “The Caucus” reports that fundraising is taking time away from campaigning.
“Romney’s Nightmare Scenario”
Ezra Klein on whether Super PACs and the RNC will partially abandon Romney.
“A Constitutional Right to Lie in Campaigns and Elections?”
I have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming in Montana Law Review election law symposium). Here is the abstract:
For many years, courts have divided on the constitutionality of laws regulating false campaign speech, with some courts upholding some false… Continue reading
Does Americans for Prosperity No Longer Think Obama’s Policy’s “Disastrous?”
Back on August 7, Americans for Prosperity told the New York Times that it was shifting from running issue ads to express advocacy because of a need to emphasize the message:
This campaign is the first time the group has… Continue reading
DOJ Files Brief Opposing Supreme Court Review of Shelby County Case Challenging Constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
You can read the brief in opposition here. As expected, DOJ points (on page 21) to the recent finding of intentional discrimination by Texas in the redistricting case.
Federal Judge Rejects Challenge to Florida Cutback in Early Voting
This is not a surprise: “A federal judge in Jacksonville refused to halt Florida’s plan to cut the number of early voting days from 14 days to eight days. Judge Timothy Corrigan ruled Monday there was not enough proof to… Continue reading
“Kansas’ state voter ID law tested in August primary”
The Joplin Globe reports. “There were 251 votes statewide in Kansas in the Aug. 6 primary that weren’t counted because the voters didn’t present the proper photo identification under the new voter ID law. They probably weren’t trying to… Continue reading
“Gov. Jerry Brown signs Election Day voter registration bill into law”
The San Jose Mercury News reports.
“Activists Concerned About Latino Voting Rights”
Roll Call: “Efforts to combat voter fraud in 23 states could jeopardize the voting rights of more than 10 million Latino voters, a report released today by the Advancement Project found.”
You can find the report at this link.
“Pennsylvania Voter ID Law In Jeopardy As Next Court Case Opens”
“Early Voting Grows In Popularity Across Country”
NPR talks to Michael McDonald.