“Little-Known Lawyer Pitched Trump on Extreme Plans to Subvert Election”

July 16, 2022, 10:55 amelection subversion riskDan Tokaji

NYT: “The lawyer, William J. Olson, … promot[ed] several extreme ideas to the president. Mr. Olson later conceded some of them could be regarded as tantamount to declaring ‘martial law’ and could even invite comparisons with Watergate. The plan… Continue reading

“Parroting Trump, GOP primary losers cast doubt on elections”

July 16, 2022, 10:52 amelection subversion risk, fraudulent fraud squadDan Tokaji

AP: “[T]his year’s Republican primaries … have revealed a new political strategy among numerous candidates: running on a platform that denies President Donald Trump’s defeat two years ago. As some of those candidates lose their own races, they are… Continue reading

Pildes: “It’s not just us. Western democracies are fragmenting.”

July 16, 2022, 6:12 ampolitical parties, political polarizationDan Tokaji

Rick Pildes, in the Wash Post: Three major elections on the same Sunday in June — in France, Colombia and Spain — tell the fundamental story of democracy in our era: the continuous disaffection with government, the collapse of… Continue reading

Line-Drawing in the “Independent State Legislature” Context?

July 16, 2022, 6:03 amUncategorizedNed Foley

To follow up on my previous post on this topic, it’s worth considering whether the meaning of the term “legislature” in the relevant Elections and Electors Clauses of Articles I and II should be considered nonjusticiable under the political… Continue reading

“Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Secret Service for missing records”

July 16, 2022, 5:58 amelection subversion risk, legislation and legislaturesDan Tokaji

WaPo: The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol issued a subpoena to the U.S. Secret Service on Friday requesting records after a government watchdog accused the agency of erasing texts from Jan.… Continue reading

Erie Postmaster’s Defamation Case against Project Veritas for False Reports of Election Fraud Allowed to Proceed

July 16, 2022, 5:51 amelection subversion riskDan Tokaji

From the introduction to the order denying the motion to dismiss in Weisenbach v. Project Veritas: Project Veritas is a non-profit media organization founded by James O’Keefe, III. On November 5, 2020, just two days after the November 3, 2020,… Continue reading

“Trump campaign operative who delivered Jan. 6 false elector lists is identified”

July 16, 2022, 5:32 amelection subversion riskDan Tokaji

Politico: A little-known Donald Trump campaign operative delivered lists of false electors to Capitol Hill in a bid to get them to Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two people familiar with the episode.Mike Roman,… Continue reading

“If Ron DeSantis is Actually Less Dangerous Than Trump, Maybe He Should Say So”

July 15, 2022, 12:57 pmelection subversion riskDan Tokaji

Tim Miller in The Bulwark, on whether Gov. DeSantis does or doesn’t present the same threat to democracy as our last President: “what has struck me about this debate is less the hypotheticals than what is missing from it:… Continue reading

“How Announcing His 2024 Campaign Could Be Trump’s Best Legal Defense”

July 15, 2022, 12:47 pmelection subversion risk, UncategorizedDan Tokaji

Interesting perspective from Ankush Khardori in Politico Magazine: [I]t has been clear for quite some time that a reelection bid would be one of Trump’s most potent legal defense strategies, both against the ongoing criminal investigation in Georgia stemming… Continue reading

Federal Judge Declines to Enjoin Alaska Campaign Disclosure Law

July 15, 2022, 12:34 pmcampaign financeDan Tokaji

AP has this story on the ruling, which appears to rely on the Purcell doctrine: A federal judge on Thursday denied a request to block campaign finance provisions of a ballot measure approved by Alaska voters in 2020, finding that… Continue reading

“Take Me Out to the… Voting Booth!”

July 15, 2022, 12:18 pmvotingDan Tokaji

Josh Douglas has this comment in Washington Monthly, combining his twin loves of baseball and voting: It’s hard to run an election in normal times, let alone during a global pandemic and in a period of extreme political polarization. The… Continue reading

“North Carolina’s Green Party says Democrats are working to keep it off 2022 ballot”

July 15, 2022, 11:33 amballot access, third partiesDan Tokaji

NPR: In North Carolina’s high-profile U.S. Senate race this November, the Green Party may not have the chance to play spoiler.That’s because the state Board of Elections, which is controlled by Democrats, has — so far — refused to… Continue reading

Door-to-door “auditing” of 2020 election

July 15, 2022, 11:27 amfraudulent fraud squadDan Tokaji

NPR reports: “People who falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen are knocking on doors around the country to determine whether people actually voted. The effort is raising concerns about voter intimidation.”

FEC Commissioners Spar over Rep. Swalwell’s Request for Advisory Opinion on Using Campaign Funds for Childcare

July 15, 2022, 7:46 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

Business Insider: On May 26, 2022, counsel for Swalwell petitioned the FEC to see if the 5-term Democratic lawmaker could use campaign funds to pay for overnight childcare as both he and his wife both work full time, he… Continue reading