Breaking: Three-Judge Federal Court, Dividing on Party Lines, Allows Ohio to Use Partisan Gerrymandered Map Helping Republicans in Upcoming State Legislative Elections that Ohio Supreme Court Said Was Unconstitutional

April 20, 2022, 4:40 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

You can find the majority opinion by Judge Thapar and the dissent by Judge Marbley at this link. The dissent seems correct that this case has created perverse incentives for Ohio Republicans to run out the clock to… Continue reading

Texas: “Steven Hotze charged for funding voter fraud investigation where repairman was held at gunpoint”

April 20, 2022, 3:34 pmchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Houston Chronicle: Steven Hotze, the conservative activist who funded a private investigation into voter fraud that ended with the investigator pointing a gun at an innocent air conditioning repairman, has been indicted for his role in the episode.A Harris… Continue reading

I Spoke with Harry Litman for the “Talking Books” Podcast About My Cheap Speech Book

April 20, 2022, 12:31 pmcheap speechRick Hasen

You can watch the video here.

“Path Cleared for CLC Lawsuit Over FEC Inaction on Illegal Coordination by Clinton Campaign”

April 20, 2022, 12:28 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Release: In a win for transparency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has cleared a path for a lawsuit brought by Campaign Legal Center (CLC) to challenge the failure of the Federal Election… Continue reading

My New Essay Posted in the Harvard Law Review Forum: “Identifying and Minimizing the Risk of Election Subversion and Stolen Elections in the Contemporary United States”

April 20, 2022, 7:55 amelection subversion risk, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

The Harvard Law Review Forum has posted my new Essay, Identifying and Minimizing the Risk of Election Subversion and Stolen Elections in the Contemporary United States (see also this more readable version). Here is the Introduction: The United States… Continue reading

“Democratic Dollars Flow Once Again to Likely Lost Causes”

April 20, 2022, 7:15 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Gary Chambers Jr. burst onto the national scene in 2020 with a viral video of him castigating the racism of the East Baton Rouge school district. Now, he has captured the hearts and wallets of young liberals with a… Continue reading

“Fearing a Trump Repeat, Jan. 6 Panel Considers Changes to Insurrection Act”

April 20, 2022, 7:08 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

NYT: In the days before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, some of President Donald J. Trump’s most extreme allies and members of right-wing militia groups urged him to use his power as commander in chief to unleash the… Continue reading

“Trump-Aligned Sheriffs Target Election Officials”

April 19, 2022, 3:25 pmelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Bolts: Unlike lawyers, judges, and legislators, county sheriffs have extensive powers to investigate any allegations, seize documents and voting machines and, if they deem necessary, use force or threats of force to gain compliance. In many regions, especially more rural areas… Continue reading

“Opinion | The Other Way Trump Could Steal the White House in 2024”

April 19, 2022, 3:14 pmelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Scott Anderson oped in Politico: Congress is right to address vulnerabilities in our election process. But reformers can’t simply fight the last war if they truly want to protect the presidency. When counting the results of the 2024 presidential… Continue reading

“A standard for fair seat proportions in our winner-take-all system”

April 19, 2022, 2:27 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Jeff Barton: When considering a district map, the term “partisan advantage” as introduced by Jon Eguia and advocated by Alec Ramsay refers to the difference between a party’s ideal and actual seat… Continue reading

“Campaign finance watchdog cracks down on untraceable super PAC donations”

April 19, 2022, 11:46 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Politico: The Federal Election Commission signaled Friday that it will take steps to uncover some types of virtually untraceable donations to super PACs, a potentially significant shift in the enforcement of campaign finance law.The move came as the FEC… Continue reading

“Revealed: The $14M mystery behind a new crypto super PAC”

April 19, 2022, 11:41 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Politico: The billionaire founder of a global crypto exchange made an anonymous $14 million contribution to a super PAC. Only it wasn’t anonymous. And it wasn’t $14 million.Protect Our Future — a super PAC that’s spent millions supporting … Continue reading

“Libs of TikTok” Account and Bogus Claims of Voter Fraud and About Jan. 6

April 19, 2022, 7:42 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

From Taylor Lorenz’s must-read reporting on the person behind the influential “Libs of TikTok” account: Libs of TikTok reposts a steady stream of TikTok videos and social media posts, primarily from LGBTQ+ people, often including incendiary framing designed to generate… Continue reading

“Eastman shielding 37,000 pages of Trump-related email from Jan. 6 committee”

April 19, 2022, 7:33 amchicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

Politico: Attorney John Eastman revealed Monday that he has asserted attorney-client privilege on 37,000 pages of emails related to his work for then-President Donald Trump in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The Jan. 6 select… Continue reading