“Voter Harassment and the Limits of State and Federal Power”

May 13, 2025, 7:07 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Ellen Katz has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Acts of voter harassment are often difficult to prevent. One longstanding, albeit underused, tool for addressing such harassment is found in section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act… Continue reading

“Hispanic and Latino Voters’ Declining Political Cohesion: A Thorn in the Side of Thornburg v. Gingles’s Framework for Evaluating Claims Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act”

May 13, 2025, 7:05 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jacob Maguire has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper argues that, based on recent electoral trends, the United States’ Hispanic and Latino community may no longer constitute a “politically cohesive” minority group under the U.S.… Continue reading

“DOJ Voting Section Has Just Three Lawyers Left, Watchdog Estimates”

May 12, 2025, 10:12 amDepartment of JusticeRick Hasen

Democracy Docket: The voting section of the U.S. Department of Justice has only three attorneys left on staff, according to an estimate provided by a group working to support the department’s remaining staff. It’s a severe reduction in the voting… Continue reading

“Disputed North Carolina race offers playbook for beaten candidates, experts warn”

May 12, 2025, 7:50 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Sam Levine for The Guardian: A disputed North Carolina state supreme court race that took nearly six months to resolve revealed a playbook for future candidates who lose elections to retroactively challenge votes, observers warn, but its ultimate resolution sent… Continue reading

“Auction to Dine With Trump Creates Foreign Influence Opportunity; When the bidding stops Monday, the top buyers of a Trump family crypto coin will win a tour of the White House.”

May 12, 2025, 7:30 ambribery, chicanery, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

NYT: The sale of face-to-face access to President Trump using the Trump family’s own cryptocurrency has done more than benefit him financially, though it has certainly done that. Mr. Trump announced last month that leading buyers of a digital… Continue reading

Who Wins or Loses in Louisiana if the Supreme Court Strikes Down LA’s Congressional District as a Racial Gerrymander?

May 12, 2025, 4:56 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

As a practical matter, the issue in Louisiana v. Callais is not whether LA will have a second Voting Rights Act (VRA) district, in which black voters will have an equal opportunity to elect their candidate of choice. The issue… Continue reading

“Trump administration poised to accept ‘palace in the sky’ as a gift for Trump from Qatar: Sources”

May 11, 2025, 8:09 ambribery, chicanery, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

ABC News: In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar… Continue reading

“After Criticism, Harris’s $900 Million Group Tries to Lay Out a Future”

May 11, 2025, 7:59 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

NYT: Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election in November, a big-money group that had raised over $900 million to support her but ultimately failed in its efforts has kept a low profile — even as Ms.… Continue reading

“Judges say unsolicited pizza deliveries are meant to intimidate them”

May 11, 2025, 7:55 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

WaPo: Federal judges say unsolicited pizza deliveries to jurists’ homes that began in February may number in the hundreds across at least seven states, prompting increased security concerns and a demand from a Senate leader for a Justice Department… Continue reading

“Trump made historic gains with minority voters in 2024. They are already pulling back in 2025”

May 11, 2025, 7:48 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Ron Brownstein: In 2024, Trump improved his performance among some big voting blocs that have historically favored Democrats, including Latinos, younger men, non-White voters without a college degree, and, to some extent, Black men. Trump’s advances generated exuberant predictions… Continue reading

“Trump, Raking In Cash, Expands His Power in the G.O.P. Money World”

May 10, 2025, 1:20 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: President Trump is harnessing the Republican Party’s all-encompassing deference to him to exert even greater control over the G.O.P. big-money world, which had long been one of the party’s final remaining redoubts of Trump skepticism. For years, the super… Continue reading

“The Electoral Connection to Constraining Executive Power”

May 10, 2025, 10:37 amUncategorizedNed Foley

A new Common Ground Democracy essay. At the conference for which this essay was written, the view was expressed by some that the only solution to the current presidential attack on the rule of law is for Democrats in 2028… Continue reading

May 15 Event: “The FEC at 50: Broken and in Need of Reform”

May 9, 2025, 10:14 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

May 15 Common Cause event.

Justice Souter, Democracy Champion, Has Passed Away

May 9, 2025, 7:52 amelection law biz, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Justice David Souter passed away yesterday at age 85. He was nominated by a Republican president but skewing liberal in some key areas. He was smart in his questions on the bench and meticulous in his opinion-writing. I did not… Continue reading