“Plutocratic Democracy, Elon Musk, and the Limits of Campaign Finance Reform”

August 25, 2025, 12:34 pmcampaign finance, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

Guy Charles and Frances Peale have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming in Campaign Finance and the First Amendment, Lee C. Bollinger & Geoffrey R. Stone, Eds., 2025). Here is the abstract: Politicians appear to be increasingly dependent upon a… Continue reading

Number of Executive Orders/Year for Every President

August 25, 2025, 11:04 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

In preparing for a class on presidential powers I’ll be teaching this fall with Bob Bauer, I made this chart of the average number of executive orders per year each President has issued over the course of their presidency. The… Continue reading

“District Populations and Partisan Bias”

August 25, 2025, 10:23 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Barry Burden and Veronica Judson have written this article for Legislative Studies Quarterly. Here is the abstract: We investigate whether the differing population sizes of legislative districts affect the ability to engage in partisan gerrymandering. We conjecture that larger populations… Continue reading

“How the Electoral College Could Tilt Further From Democrats”

August 25, 2025, 7:40 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

NYT: The year is 2032. Studying the Electoral College map, a Democratic presidential candidate can no longer plan to sweep New Hampshire, Minnesota and the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and win the White House. A victory… Continue reading

“How California bluffed its way into a redistricting war with Trump”

August 25, 2025, 7:37 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: When word got out that Texas might undertake an extraordinary mid-decade redistricting at Donald Trump’s behest, a handful of top California Democratic operatives floated an idea to Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Could California respond in kind? Lofgren, the chair of… Continue reading

“Of Course the Voting Rights Act Would Die at This Moment”

August 25, 2025, 7:30 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Linda Greenhouse NYT column.

“Who Has the Right to Vote in America?”

August 25, 2025, 7:15 amReal Right to VoteRick Hasen

You can watch this episode of the PBS Series, Civics Made Easy with Ben Sheehan in which Josh Douglas and I are both interviewed about the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions and voting rights. You can find the full series here.

“How Did State Count More Kauaʻi Ballots Than County Said It Delivered?”

August 25, 2025, 7:09 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

Troubling story out of Hawaii, hat tip to Charles Stewart for flagging this: The next meeting of the Hawaiʻi Elections Commission on Wednesday is expected to be dominated by recent findings of discrepancies in the number of drop box and… Continue reading

2025 Election Law Teachers Database Now Available

August 25, 2025, 7:00 amelection law bizRick Hasen

You can download it here.

“A Texas County Cuts Over 100 Polling Sites as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting Nationally”

August 24, 2025, 3:11 pmelection administration, redistrictingRick Hasen

Pro Publica: Officials in a large North Texas county decided this week to cut more than 100 Election Day polling sites and reduce the number of early voting locations, amid growing concern about GOP efforts to limit voting access ahead… Continue reading

“Reframing Jan. 6: After the Pardons, the Purge”

August 24, 2025, 3:05 pmauthoritarian threats in US, Department of JusticeRick Hasen

NYT: The lawyer took the elevator 32 floors to the U.S. attorney’s office, where for eight years he had worked as a highly regarded prosecutor. He had a container of homemade chocolate chip cookies to share and some thoughts to… Continue reading

“Red vs. Blue: Who’s Next in the Redistricting Fight”

August 24, 2025, 3:01 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

WSJ: While both Texas and California are seeking to flip five seats, other states have fewer seats to target. Shawn Donahue, a political-science professor at the University at Buffalo, predicts Republicans would pick up four to six of House seats nationwide… Continue reading

Bart Gellman: “Trump’s Stunning Power Grab on Elections”

August 24, 2025, 2:57 pmElection Assistance Commission, election subversion risk, UncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT oped: To begin with, the surprise announcement and the sudden, if ambiguous, turnabout suggested once again that Mr. Trump is governing in his second term without advisers who can or even try to help him discipline his impulses. The… Continue reading