Ethan Herenstein: “Can State Legislatures Exercise Federal Legislative Power? A Flaw in the Defense of the Independent State Legislature Theory”

November 28, 2022, 3:42 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Ethan Herenstein of the Brennan Center: In their reply brief defending the independent state legislature theory (ISLT), the petitioners in Moore v. Harper doubled down on the assertion that when state legislatures… Continue reading

“State Dept says Salvadorans’ attempts to ‘directly influence’ a U.S. congressional election are ‘unacceptable'”

November 28, 2022, 3:07 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

NBC News: After winning re-election to her seat in the U.S. House, Norma Torres, a Democrat from California, issued a press release making a startling accusation: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele participated in “foreign election interference” in her race. Bukele,… Continue reading

“Cochise County Board of Supervisors votes to delay certification of election results”

November 28, 2022, 1:57 pmelection subversion riskDerek Muller

That’s the lede from the Arizona Republic. On the heels of the failed Otero County, New Mexico effort to block certification last summer, which resulted in a mandamus action followed by swift obedience, this effort in Arizona seems… Continue reading

“Election deniers performed especially poorly in races to oversee voting in key states”

November 28, 2022, 1:48 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

NPR: Over nearly two years, the political future of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had looked somewhere between uncertain and untenable. In 2020, sitting President Donald Trump called him an “enemy of the people” after Trump lost Georgia… Continue reading

Must-Read: “Inside the Billionaire-Backed ‘Hub for Election Denial’”

November 28, 2022, 9:53 amelection subversion risk, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Roger Sollenberger for The Daily Beast: Right-wing megadonor Dick Uihlein has been funneling tens of millions of dollars to election deniers, but a previously unreported IRS filing shows he has also teamed up with one. According to its 2021… Continue reading

Is There Enough Time for Reform of the Electoral Count Act to Pass in the Lame Duck Session of Congress?

November 28, 2022, 8:36 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

I’ve written that this must-pass bill to limit the chances of election subversion must pass during the lame duck session, as there’s no way it gets brought up by a Republican House led by Kevin McCarthy in the next session… Continue reading

“Do You Have a Right Not to Be Lied To?; The legal thinkers reconsidering freedom of speech.”

November 28, 2022, 8:29 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Jeff Wise deep dive in New York magazine: Given the urgency of the threat to democracy, some American legal scholars are arguing that it’s time to explore direct legal penalties for lying. “When you have the level of threat of… Continue reading

“The GOP’s great Trump reckoning begins at the state party level”

November 28, 2022, 8:24 ampolitical partiesRick Hasen

Politico: But underwhelming midterm performances across the board have already ignited a wave of intraparty conflagrations. And as a post-midterm power vacuum in Michigan, New Hampshire and other pivotal states threatens to weaken Trump’s vise grip on state party apparatuses,… Continue reading

The Limits of Federal Voting Rights Reform

November 28, 2022, 8:01 ampolitical parties, political polarizationTabatha Abu El-Haj

Voting rights are under attack, both by Republican state legislature and by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court. Given Congress’s rejection of voting reforms in January 2022, Didi Kuo and I argue, in our new article, that it… Continue reading

“Maricopa County says printer glitches didn’t prevent anyone from voting”

November 27, 2022, 4:37 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

WaPo: Maricopa County, facing a storm of GOP criticism over its handling of the Nov. 8 election, said in a report issued Sunday that problems with printers that surfaced on Election Day did not violate the Arizona Constitution or other… Continue reading

“Minority districts drop after redistricting, despite population growth”

November 27, 2022, 1:58 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Reid Wilson for Plurbius News: The number of state legislative districts where racial or ethnic minorities make up a majority or a near majority of the population dropped substantially after the latest round of redistricting, even as those minority groups… Continue reading

“New state voter fraud units finding few cases from midterms”

November 26, 2022, 9:49 amfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

AP: State-level law enforcement units created after the 2020 presidential election to investigate voter fraud are looking into scattered complaints more than two weeks after the midterms but have provided no indication of systemic problems. That’s just what election experts… Continue reading

“Jan. 6 panel staffers angry at Cheney for focusing so much of report on Trump”

November 25, 2022, 2:44 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

WaPo: Since Rep. Liz Cheney accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offer to serve as the vice chair of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Wyoming Republican has exerted a remarkable level of… Continue reading