Virtual Event: “Safeguarding Democracy: Lessons Learned from 1/6”

December 29, 2021, 8:30 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

ACS: In the year since the Capitol building was stormed by an angry mob intent on overturning the results of the 2020 election, congressional leaders and Department of Justice prosecutors have been working to hold those who orchestrated the… Continue reading

“Ethics Investigators in Congress Increasingly Run Into Walls”

December 29, 2021, 8:27 amethics investigationsRick Hasen

NYT: In 2009 and 2010 — the first Congress scrutinized by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which was created in 2008 — three lawmakers refused to cooperate with the office’s 68 investigations, a noncooperation rate of just 4 percent.This… Continue reading

“Michigan’s new congressional map: 3 battlegrounds, 1 Dem-vs.-Dem primary”

December 29, 2021, 8:24 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Politico reports.

A Worrisome Run to Get the Supreme Court to Overturn the Ban on Corporate Campaign Contributions to Candidates, This One from a Leading Supreme Court Litigator Involving the Father of a Former Ky Democratic Secretary of State

December 28, 2021, 4:23 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ban on corporate contribution limits in the 2003 case, FEC v. Beaumont. And in Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court noted that there is still a risk of corruption when contributions are… Continue reading

How Social Media Has Made Congress More Toxic

December 28, 2021, 3:31 pmUncategorizedRichard Pildes

The WSJ has a piece titled How the Capitol Riot Turned a Partisan Congress ‘Toxic’. This part of the piece, in particular, caught my attention. The comments — from lawmakers themselves — confirm my views on how the communications… Continue reading

“Texas election workers ask federal court to block rule against soliciting mail ballots”

December 28, 2021, 3:24 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

NBC News: Two Texas election workers on Tuesday asked a federal court to block part of Texas’ new voting law, arguing its prohibition on “solicitation” of mail ballots is unconstitutional.The plaintiffs — Harris County’s top elections official Isabel… Continue reading

“One Year Later, New UMass Amherst Poll Finds Continued National Political Division Over the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol. “

December 28, 2021, 2:25 pmelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Release: One year after thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to protest and disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, the results of a… Continue reading

“Ohio Supreme Court hears arguments on GOP-drawn congressional redistricting map”

December 28, 2021, 1:20 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The Columbus Dispatch reports.

“News Analysis: California’s political redistricting was all about defining a ‘community’”

December 28, 2021, 1:19 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

John Myers for the LAT. He’s following it up with this Twitter thread.

“1.5 million Texans have now used online voter registration, after state was forced to offer it”

December 28, 2021, 8:29 amvoter registrationRick Hasen

The Houston Chronicle reports.

Not the Time for Measuring Drapes

December 28, 2021, 7:58 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

This column by Eric Levitz has been generating some buzz. Based on the congressional districts redrawn so far, the piece argues that “the new House map will be much less biased in the GOP’s favor than the old one.” The… Continue reading

“Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Lays Out How He and Bannon Planned to Overturn Biden’s Electoral Win”

December 28, 2021, 7:34 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Daily Beast: A former Trump White House official says he and right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon were actually behind the last-ditch coordinated effort by rogue Republicans in Congress to halt certification of the 2020 election results and keep President Donald… Continue reading

Can federal courts hear private litigants’ statewide partisan gerrymandering claims arising under the Freedom to Vote Act?

December 28, 2021, 7:33 amredistrictingDerek Muller

In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Supreme Court held, “We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” The Court emphasized that state court or legislative solutions would remain available to reformers.… Continue reading

“Supreme Court term limits are popular — and appear to be going nowhere “

December 28, 2021, 6:45 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

From Bob Barnes and Seung Min Kim at the Washington Post: President Biden’s commission to study structural revisions to the Supreme Court found one potential change both Democrats and Republicans have said they could support: implementing term limits for the… Continue reading

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