“Trump’s Conviction and Biden’s Poor Debate Sent Big Money Into the Race”

July 21, 2024, 6:29 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

NYT: New campaign-finance filings released this week revealed the degree to which Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts on May 30 and Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27 became seminal moments in the fund-raising race…. The… Continue reading

“Legal fight continues with appeals over proposed immigration initiative for Arizona Nov. 5 ballot”

July 21, 2024, 5:39 amdirect democracyDan Tokaji

AP: The fight to keep a proposed border initiative off Arizona’s Nov. 5 ballot is not over yet. Immigrant advocates kept the issue alive this week by filing notice to the state Supreme Court that they will appeal the… Continue reading

“Alaska election officials to recalculate signatures for ranked vote repeal measure after court order”

July 21, 2024, 5:36 amalternative voting systems, direct democracyDan Tokaji

AP: A state court judge on Friday disqualified numerous booklets used to gather signatures for an initiative that aims to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting system and gave elections officials a deadline to determine if the measure still had… Continue reading

“Biden was far outspending Trump — with little to show for it — even before the debate”

July 21, 2024, 5:28 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

Politico reports that Biden outspent Trump 6:1 in June, a “massive spending differential [that] helped Trump’s operation extend its cash advantage, underscoring the vastly different financial and political realities of the two campaigns at a key moment in the cycle.”… Continue reading

“How Democrats would pick a new candidate if Biden drops out, step by step”

July 21, 2024, 5:24 ampolitical partiesDan Tokaji

WaPo has this explainer, for flow-chart fans like me.

Voting Machine Conspiracies Persist

July 21, 2024, 5:11 amelection subversion risk, voting technologyDan Tokaji

NYT: Nearly four years later, zealous supporters of former President Donald J. Trump who promoted the conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems had rigged its machines to rob him of the 2020 election are still at it. Even though… Continue reading

“Trump is poised to bypass his legal woes thanks to judges he appointed”

July 21, 2024, 5:07 amelection subversion risk, Supreme CourtDan Tokaji

Politico: “Trump’s three Supreme Court picks formed a decisive bloc to declare presidents immune from prosecution for official conduct — freezing the charges he faces in multiple jurisdictions for trying to subvert the 2020 election and putting his New… Continue reading

“Ohio’s Phantom Menace”

July 20, 2024, 5:07 amballot access, political partiesDan Tokaji

Politico reports that the DNC is forging ahead with its plan for a pre-convention virtual roll call, originally planned to address the since-resolved Ohio ballot access problem: “The Democratic National Convention Rules Committee met virtually on Friday to outline plans… Continue reading

“Biden and Trump Have Succeeded in Breaking Reality”

July 20, 2024, 4:38 amauthoritarian threats in US, campaigns, political partiesDan Tokaji

From M. Gessen in NYT, an astute commentary on where we’re at: Biden and Trump represent entirely different values and policies…. Biden is right: Trump poses an existential threat to democracy. But both campaigns are creating a sense of… Continue reading

“Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Someone Else? The Convention Rules Might Decide.”

July 20, 2024, 4:21 ampolitical partiesDan Tokaji

Jeff Greenfield’s deep dive into party rules and procedures, in Politico Magazine: Whether or not President Joe Biden drops his bid for reelection amid rising pressure from party leaders, there’s a very good chance that the Democratic convention will be… Continue reading

“Republicans say they will trust the election results as long as Trump wins”

July 20, 2024, 4:11 amelection subversion risk, political partiesDan Tokaji

From the Washington Post: Despite the brimming confidence of Trump supporters, the campaign is preparing them to question the results if things don’t go their way. Trump has preemptively questioned the outcome of the election, sowing doubt in the… Continue reading

“Jan. 6 committee members leverage Trump in pleas for Biden to step aside”

July 20, 2024, 4:06 amelection subversion risk, political partiesDan Tokaji

Politico: Democrats who played prominent roles on the House Jan. 6 committee — which concluded that Donald Trump poses a unique danger to democracy — are at the forefront of the latest push by members of Congress to call… Continue reading

Unfortunate use of the word “coup”

July 19, 2024, 11:25 amUncategorizedNed Foley

The New Yorker writer Susan Glasser, a journalist whom I greatly admire (and read regularly), in her most recent column uses the word “coup” to describe the current effort within the Democratic Party to persuade Joe Biden to step aside… Continue reading

Kleinfeld & Sachs, “Give Parents the Vote”

July 19, 2024, 10:58 ampolitical equalityDan Tokaji

Joshua Kleinfeld and Stephen Sachs have posted this paper, forthcoming in Notre Dame Law Reivew, on SSRN. Here’s the abstract: Many of America’s most significant policy problems, from failing schools to the aftershocks of COVID shutdowns to national debt… Continue reading