Newly-released OLC memo from 2020: “Transmission of Electoral-College Certificates by ‘Registered Mail'”

January 18, 2025, 10:24 amelectoral collegeDerek Muller

This memo from the Office of Legal Counsel was released January 17, 2024, but was written February 27, 2020 (i.e., late in the first Trump administration and well before Election Day). There is an editor’s note that the Electoral Count… Continue reading

Pennsylvania Supreme Court to (Finally) Decide Constitutionality of Rule Barring the Counting of Undated or Misdated but Timely Mail-In Ballots

January 17, 2025, 1:50 pmelection administrationRick Hasen

The PA Supreme Court repeatedly refused to consider this issue during the runup to the 2024 elections (which was probably wise, given the uncertainty that such a ruling, going up to SCOTUS, likely would have engendered). It has now agreed … Continue reading

“On Voting Rights, Eight Legal Battles to Watch in 2025”

January 17, 2025, 9:35 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Bolts reports.

“‘Hopefully, I’ll run into a few friendly faces’: US Capitol rioters return to DC to celebrate Trump inauguration”

January 17, 2025, 7:47 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Marshall Cohen for CNN: Some rioters charged or convicted in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol are returning to Washington, DC, for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to court filings in a dozen cases and multiple sources familiar with… Continue reading

“Ranked-List Proportional Representation”

January 17, 2025, 7:41 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

I posted this paper introducing a new form of proportional representation that combines the key features of the two PR systems that are most commonly advocated in the American context. The paper is part of a Wisconsin Law Review symposium.… Continue reading

Supreme Court, Applying Intermediate Scrutiny, Upholds TikTok Ban Against First Amendment Challenge on Grounds That It Allows a Foreign Adversary to Spy on Americans

January 17, 2025, 7:15 amcheap speechRick Hasen

The result was unanimous, in a per curiam opinion and two concurrences (by Sotomayor and Gorsuch). The nub, as Justice Gorsuch put it at the end of his concurrence, was this: “Speaking with and in favor of a foreign adversary… Continue reading

“Biden says the Equal Rights Amendment is law. What happens next is unclear”

January 17, 2025, 7:10 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

NPR: President Biden on Friday declared that he considers the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution is “the law of the land,” a surprising declaration that does not have any formal force of effect, but that is being celebrated by… Continue reading

Voting Rights Video Casebook

January 16, 2025, 3:20 pmUncategorizedGuy Charles

This is a reminder of an excellent resource for voting rights and election law educators: a VIDEO Voting Rights curriculum. This v-casebook is a wonderful supplement to any courses and seminars on election law. It features an array of… Continue reading

“BREAKING: SCOTUSblog Publisher Tom Goldstein Indicted In Tax Case”

January 16, 2025, 1:15 pmchicanery, election law bizRick Hasen

Law360: Tom Goldstein, a publisher of SCOTUSblog and one of the most experienced U.S. Supreme Court lawyers in the country, was indicted Thursday in Maryland federal court on charges he schemed to evade taxes for years and used funds from… Continue reading

“Minnesota House Democrats work from afar as GOP convenes sessions without them”

January 16, 2025, 12:53 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Minnesota Reformer: Judy Moe walked into a Richfield Caribou Coffee on Wednesday morning ready to air grievances and advocate for disability rights with her state representative, presenting him with a copy of a printed agenda she created for the… Continue reading

Debate on the Electoral College in DC Journal

January 16, 2025, 12:50 pmelectoral collegeRick Hasen

Dan Greenberg: “Point: The Electoral College Protects Minority Views and Discourages Fraud.” Rob Richie: “Counterpoint: The Electoral College Must Be Reformed.”

“Rudy Giuliani settles with Georgia women who won $148 million defamation judgment against him”

January 16, 2025, 12:48 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Politico: Rudy Giuliani reached a deal Thursday with two Georgia women who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him that allows him to keep all of his property in exchange for a payment of unknown size — plus a… Continue reading

ELB Podcast 6:4: Katie Harbath: The Present and Future of Social Media, Politics, and Elections

January 16, 2025, 8:34 amcheap speech, ELB PodcastRick Hasen

Season 6, Episode 4 of the ELB Podcast: How did social media’s treatment of election content change in the 2024 elections? What do Meta’s new announcements mean for politics and society going forward? How might AI change everything? On Season… Continue reading

“Biden warns of the rise of a new American ‘oligarchy'”

January 16, 2025, 7:17 amauthoritarian threats in US, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

WaPo: President Joe Biden used his final address from the Oval Office to deliver a somber warning about the threat posed by the “dangerous concentration of power” in the hands of wealthy and well-connected individuals, a thinly veiled reference… Continue reading