“As pressure mounts to fix Pinal’s problems, elections director resigns”

June 28, 2023, 3:43 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Votebeat: Pinal County’s elections director abruptly resigned this week after facing harsh criticism from the county GOP. Her scathing resignation letter led many to compare her departure to those of other elections directors across the country who… Continue reading

“California Supreme Court takes up voting rights challenge against Santa Monica”

June 28, 2023, 2:50 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Courthouse News Service on the oral argument.

“The Geography of Racially Polarized Voting: Calibrating Surveys at the District Level”

June 28, 2023, 12:40 pmUncategorizedRichard Pildes

This looks to be an important new article in the APSR from a strong group of authors. Here’s the abstract: Debates over racial voting, and over policies to combat vote dilution, turn on the extent to which groups’ voting preferences… Continue reading

“The Phantasm of Principle”

June 28, 2023, 9:24 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Wilfred Codrington has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Kentucky Law Journal). Here is the abstract: Together with the decennial Census, the reapportionment and redistricting processes comprise the most integral components for ensuring appropriate representation in the U.S. system of… Continue reading

TODAY! Safeguarding Democracy Project Flash Webinar, Wednesday June 28: U.S. Democracy and the Independent State Legislature Theory after the Supreme Court’s Moore v. Harper Decision [bumped to top]

June 28, 2023, 7:10 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Join UCLA Law’s Safeguarding Democracy Project for a free online flash webinar, Wednesday, June 28, 11 am PT/2 pm ET, featuring leading election law scholars: · Derek T. Muller, Notre Dame Law (beginning July 1) · Richard H. Pildes,… Continue reading

“Supreme Court rejects novel legislative theory but leaves a door open for 2024 election challenges”

June 28, 2023, 7:04 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Nick Riccardi and David Leib for AP: But for some critics of the theory, the danger is not entirely past. The court found that state courts still must act within “ordinary bounds” when reviewing laws governing federal elections. That… Continue reading

“Exclusive: Rudy Giuliani interviewed in special counsel’s 2020 election interference probe”

June 28, 2023, 6:59 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

CNN: Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN. The meeting between Giuliani,… Continue reading

The limited path for litigation after Moore v. Harper was set out in a series of related cases between 2004 and 2007

June 28, 2023, 6:46 amElections Clause, legislation and legislaturesDerek Muller

ELB readers may recall my post last year on Colorado General Assembly v. Salazar (2004). There, the Court, over three dissenting justices, denied cert in a Legislature Thereof Clause dispute under the Elections Clause in Colorado’s redistricting. A lot of… Continue reading

Pildes: “The Supreme Court Rejected a Dangerous Elections Theory. But It’s Not All Good News.”

June 28, 2023, 6:44 amlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Excellent new Rick Pildes in the NYT: Relief that the court did not endorse this extreme position, though, must be tempered by the fact — which many initial responses to the decision have not recognized — that the court simultaneously… Continue reading

Moore v. Harper & the need for clarity

June 28, 2023, 4:19 amUncategorizedNed Foley

In his valuable New York Times column this morning, Rick Pildes rightly emphasizes the need for clarity in rules governing the electoral process, especially the rules concerning the casting and counting of ballots. Rick worries, however, that yesterday’s decision… Continue reading

Don’t Count on the Gorsuch and Thomas Votes in Future Voting Cases; Expect Them to Side Against Voting Rights Litigants

June 27, 2023, 5:42 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

In today’s Moore decision, Justices Thomas and Gorsuch rejected the majority approach to the independent state legislature theory, believing instead that state legislatures have almost plenary power and cannot be limited even by state courts applying state constitutions. (Justice Alito… Continue reading

Eastman Whines About Court’s Ruling in Moore v. Harper

June 27, 2023, 5:24 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Jess Bravin for WSJ: John Eastman, a former law professor who advised former President Donald Trump on resisting the 2020 election results, filed a brief for the Claremont Institute backing the GOP position. On Tuesday, he criticized Roberts’s opinion, saying… Continue reading

“How the Supreme Court’s decision on election law could shut the door on future fake electors”

June 27, 2023, 4:57 pmelection subversion risk, legislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Politico: The Supreme Court’s rejection of a controversial election theory may also have another huge political consequence for future presidential contests: It obliterated the dubious fake elector scheme that Donald Trump deployed in his failed attempt to seize a second… Continue reading

Separating Spin from Reality in the Supreme Court’s Moore v. Harper Case: What Does It Really Mean for American Democracy and What Does It Say About the Supreme Court?

June 27, 2023, 3:29 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

There’s a whole lot of spin out there about the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Moore v. Harper concerning the scope of the “independent state legislature” theory. To hear some progressives tell it, the ISLT theory is dead and democracy … Continue reading

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