“Why Lawmakers Don’t Want to Ban Their Own Stock Trading”

September 3, 2025, 7:21 amconflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

WSJ: While running for Congress last year, Republican Rob Bresnahan—like most Americans—hated the idea of lawmakers making money by trading individual stocks in elected office and said he wanted to ban the practice. Then he won his race. Now a congressman… Continue reading

“The Hidden Cause (and Higher Stakes) of the Gerrymandering Crisis”

September 3, 2025, 7:11 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Michael Parsons and Kevin Johnson in The Fulcrum: The gerrymandering wars have laid bare the unique Achilles’ heel at the heart of our structural dysfunction: We give partisan institutions immense power over the rules of elections. No other peer … Continue reading

“The Future of Voting Rights Is on the Line at the Supreme Court”

September 2, 2025, 5:04 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Here’s a transcript of a bit of my Slate Amicus podcast conversation with Dahlia Lithwick: Can you just explain to us what happens if Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is no longer the mechanism by which voters can… Continue reading

Walter Olson: “CIS kicks voter registration groups out of naturalization ceremonies”

September 2, 2025, 5:00 pmelection administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Walter at his Substack: An Aug. 29 policy statement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency, says the agency will from now on bar nonpartisan groups such as the League of Women Voters from offering voter registration services… Continue reading

“The gerrymandering battle has a historical precedent. It’s a warning we should heed.”

September 2, 2025, 4:54 pmElections Clause, redistrictingRick Hasen

Alex Keyssar oped in The Boston Globe: The framers of the Constitution — assembling in 1787, a time when political parties did not exist — chose to leave it to the state Legislatures to decide how to select presidential electors.… Continue reading

“How Elon Musk Is Remaking Grok in His Image”

September 2, 2025, 11:00 amcheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Elon Musk has said Grok, the A.I.-powered chatbot that his company developed, should be “politically neutral” and “maximally truth-seeking.” But in practice, Mr. Musk and his artificial intelligence company, xAI, have tweaked the chatbot… Continue reading

Announcing the Safeguarding Democracy Project’s Fall Lineup of Events and Webinars, Focused on the Fairness and Integrity of the 2026 Midterms

September 2, 2025, 7:45 amalternative voting systems, authoritarian threats in US, election administration, redistricting, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The Risk of Federal Interference in the 2026 Midterm Elections Tuesday, September 16, 12:15pm-1:15pm PT, Webinar Register here. Ben Haiman, UVA Center for Public Safety and Justice, Liz Howard, NYU Law Brennan Center for Justice, and Stephen Richer, Ash Center for Democratic Governance… Continue reading

“Trump Family Profits Even With Tepid Launch of Crypto Tokens”

September 2, 2025, 7:43 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture known as World Liberty Financial had a tepid first day of open-market trading on Monday, surging in value initially before losing most of those gains. But because of an unusual insider arrangement, the Trump… Continue reading

“Democrats face an increasingly frustrated base over redistricting”

September 2, 2025, 7:40 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: Democrats are scrambling to keep their nascent crusade against President Donald Trump’s national redistricting push from fizzling out. House Democrats are considering establishing an organization to raise and spend for their remapping efforts as they look to counter an… Continue reading

State of Louisiana, in Motion for Divided Argument for the Supreme Court “Vehemently” Takes the Position that the Creation of a Race-Conscious District as Required by the Voting Rights Act is Unconstitutional

September 2, 2025, 7:35 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The mask is truly off.

Federal District Court Holds Unconstitutional South Dakota Law Moving Filing Deadline for Initiatives from 6 Months Before Election to 9 Months

September 1, 2025, 9:19 amdirect democracyRick Hasen

Here’s the opinion in Dakotans for Health v. Johnson.

“Already Pardoned by Trump, Jan. 6 Rioters Push for Compensation”

September 1, 2025, 9:12 amauthoritarian threats in US, Department of Justice, election subversion riskRick Hasen

Bizarro World continues: The rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, secured a shocking double victory this year. President Trump granted them clemency for their crimes on his first day back in the White House, and in the… Continue reading

“Election Law for the New Electorate”

September 1, 2025, 6:24 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

My article on ongoing shifts in voter behavior and what they mean for election law is now out in the Journal of Legal Analysis. Here’s the abstract: The American electorate is transforming—undergoing its most sweeping changes in half a… Continue reading

California Legislature Moves to Allow Gig Workers to Engage in Collective Bargaining After California Appellate Court Accepted the Argument in Our Amicus Brief in the Prop. 22 Case That Prop. 22 Could Not Bar Legislature from Doing So

August 31, 2025, 11:53 amdirect democracyRick Hasen

This is gratifying. Back in 2022, I filed an amicus brief in the California Court of Appeal with Professors Joey Fishkin and Franita Tolson, along with co-counsel Kathryn Eidmann and Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel. We did not take a… Continue reading