Congressional Freethought Caucus Asks IRS to Reconsider Decision to Allow Church Endorsements of Candidates

July 22, 2025, 4:33 amtax law and election lawDan Tokaji

Here’s the letter opposing the proposed consent decree in National Religious Broadcasters Association et al v. Long, arguing that it adopts a “stunningly inaccurate reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment.”

“5 years after Ohio’s $60M bribery scandal, critics say more could be done to prevent a repeat”

July 22, 2025, 4:22 ambribery, campaign financeDan Tokaji

AP: Five years after a $60 million bribery scheme funded by FirstEnergy Corp. came to light in Ohio, expert observers say the resulting prosecutions, lawsuits, penalties and legislation haven’t led to enough change and accountability to prevent politicians and… Continue reading

“Trump Posts Fake Video Showing Obama Arrest”

July 21, 2025, 10:09 amUncategorizedDan Tokaji

NYT: “President Trump reposted a fake video showing former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office, as Trump administration officials continue to accuse Mr. Obama of trying to harm Mr. Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election, and… Continue reading

Survey of the Performance of American Elections

July 21, 2025, 10:01 amabsentee ballots, election administrationDan Tokaji

You can find the 2024 report from Charles Stewart’s Election Data and Science Lab at MIT here. A few highlights from the report’s Executive Summary: In 2024, a total of 10,200 registered voters participated in the survey conducted… Continue reading

North Dakota Legislative Council’s Bizarre Understanding of Redistricting Ruling May Have Led to Justice Kavanaugh’s Administrative Stay in Eighth Amendment Voting Rights Act (Private Right of Action) Case

July 21, 2025, 7:58 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

As I noted a few days ago, Justice Kavanaugh put on hold via an administrative stay an Eighth Circuit case concerning whether private plaintiffs have the right to sue to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The answer… Continue reading

“How an alleged Georgia Ponzi scheme fueled far-right causes”

July 21, 2025, 5:00 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

AJC: The Frost family used nearly $1.4 million in campaign contributions, much of it allegedly swindled from investors, to build political clout in Georgia and across the nation over the past two decades, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis shows. A… Continue reading

“Judge limits a small part of a court order blocking Trump’s election overhaul as lawsuits continue”

July 21, 2025, 4:55 amelection administrationDan Tokaji

AP: A federal judge on Friday modified part of a previous ruling that blocked much of President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order seeking to overhaul elections in the U.S. The minor change affects just one aspect of a preliminary… Continue reading

Comparing Musk and Perot

July 21, 2025, 4:26 amthird partiesDan Tokaji

John Ganz in Politico Magazine, concluding: Without the ability to run for president, Musk is arguably emulating the least successful part of Perot’s political career: his attempt to start a third party. The Reform Party collapsed in a decade,… Continue reading

“Trump officials accused of defying 1 in 3 judges who ruled against him”

July 21, 2025, 4:22 amauthoritarian threats in US, Department of JusticeDan Tokaji

Washington Post: President Donald Trump and his appointees have been accused of flouting courts in a third of the more than 160 lawsuits against the administration in which a judge has issued a substantive ruling, a Washington Post analysis… Continue reading

“As Trump pushes Texas takeover in fight for House, Democrats plot their counterpunch”

July 21, 2025, 4:18 amredistrictingDan Tokaji

CNN: “House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his political team have begun privately shaping a legally risky — and likely expensive — strategy to redraw House maps in several Democratic-controlled states, according to Democrats briefed on the effort. They… Continue reading

California mulls redistricting move that might invigorate Moore v. Harper

July 20, 2025, 6:09 pmredistrictingDerek Muller

Nick’s recent partisan fairness post notes that changes to California’s congressional redistricting would require an amendment to the state constitution. That seems right to me. But it’s also not the only mechanism California is considering. On a recent podcast,… Continue reading

“Texas Republicans aim to redraw House districts at Trump’s urging, but there’s a risk”

July 20, 2025, 5:25 amredistrictingDan Tokaji

AP: Texas has 38 seats in the House. Republicans now hold 25 and Democrats 12, with one seat vacant after Democrat Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, died in March…. The fear of accidentally creating unsafe seats is one… Continue reading

Charles, Fuentes-Rohwer & Peale, “Reconstructing (the Law of) Democracy”

July 19, 2025, 3:22 pmelection law and constitutional lawDan Tokaji

Guy Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, and Farris Peale have posted this paper on SSRN. The abstract: American democracy is experiencing a stress test, but the field that ought to be preoccupied with democracy seems to have little to say about it. The… Continue reading

In-person voting rebounded in 2024

July 19, 2025, 3:18 pmabsentee ballotsDan Tokaji

Votebeat: After years of speculation about the “death” of in-person voting, the latest national data shows a bit of a rebound: Americans are returning to the polls in person. According to a new MIT report titled “How We Voted… Continue reading