Monthly Archives: April 2017

“Illiberal Democracy: The Toxic Mix of Fake News, Hyperpolarization, and Partisan Election Administration”

April 5, 2017, 3:59 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Tony Gaughan has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy). Here is the abstract; The 2016 presidential election shook American democracy to its foundations. From Russia’s hacking of Democratic National Committee emails to… Continue reading

Status Conference Order in TX Redistricting Cases Suggests Further Action on State House Case, Issue of Putting Texas Back under Federal Supervision

April 5, 2017, 3:43 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

A few weeks ago the three-judge court decided a challenge to the 2011 Texas congressional redistricting plan. Pending is a challenge to the 2011 House districts. That opinion may come any time. There also needs to be a trial on… Continue reading

The House Freedom Caucus is Effective Precisely Because it is Not Politically Fragmented

April 5, 2017, 12:35 pmUncategorizedRichard Pildes

Two recent essays at the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, here and here, describe the various means through which the Freedom Caucus has turned itself into an effective, unified bloc within the Republican Party. Until I read these pieces, I… Continue reading

7th Circuit En Banc Decision in Hively, on Sexual Orientation Discrimination under Title VII, Great Statutory Interpretation Teaching Case

April 5, 2017, 8:03 amstatutory interpretationRick Hasen

The opinion in Hively is here, Howard rounds up the coverage, and Joshua Matz explains its substantive significance to antidiscrimination law (and why the Court is likely to take the case, and with a new Justice Gorsuch, could well… Continue reading

“Senate plunges toward historic rules change in Supreme Court standoff”

April 5, 2017, 7:50 amlegislation and legislaturesRick Hasen

WaPo: The Senate plowed Tuesday toward a historic and bitter showdown over President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, with a parade of lawmakers taking to the Senate floor to deliver politically charged speeches for and against the president’s pick as a… Continue reading

“If Republicans Blow Up the Filibuster Over Gorsuch, Is Legislation Next?”

April 5, 2017, 7:48 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT: Senate Republicans are preparing to abolish the final vestige of power that the minority has to block presidential nominations, worrying many senators in both parties that the final and biggest domino — the power to filibuster legislation — will… Continue reading

UPDATED: “Vermont’s campaign finance law survives legal challenge”

April 5, 2017, 7:22 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

[updated and bumped to the top.] AP: Dean Corren, an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor, sued the state in Vermont’s federal district court for violating his First Amendment rights, alleging that a restriction on fundraising for publicly-financed candidates is… Continue reading

“How To Protect The Next Election From Hacking”

April 5, 2017, 7:17 amelection administrationRick Hasen

Pam Fessler for NPR: The federal government has declared elections to be part of the country’s critical infrastructure. That has election officials, who are very protective of how they do things now, extremely nervous.

“Right-Wing Billionaires Are Buying Themselves a New Constitution”

April 5, 2017, 7:07 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Fusion on the efforts to get Congress to call an Article V constitutional convention. It is closer than you might think.

NC: “Lawmakers revive plan for combined state elections, ethics board”

April 4, 2017, 9:23 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

WRAL: A little more than two weeks after a three-judge panel threw out a new state law combining oversight of state elections and ethics enforcement, leading Republican House members are pushing a revised version of the plan. The House… Continue reading

“Time To Filibuster, Buster!”

April 4, 2017, 1:21 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

I spoke with Alex Wise of Sea Change radio about whether it is in Democrats’ self interest to filibuster.

The WI Gerrymandering Case and the Costs of Mandatory Jurisdiction

April 4, 2017, 8:59 ampolitical parties, redistrictingRichard Pildes

The 2-1 federal court decision striking down Wisconsin’s redistricting plans for the state legislature as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, Whitford v. Gil, is without doubt the most significant lower federal court decision on partisan gerrymandering the lower courts have ever… Continue reading

“Strategic Debate in Gorsuch Battle: Use Filibuster Now or Later?”

April 4, 2017, 7:42 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Charlie Savage in the NYT: The conventional political narrative as Judge Neil M. Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination nears its endgame is that liberals want at least 40 Senate Democrats to follow through on their threat to stall him with a… Continue reading