“Gov. Shapiro and Family Evacuated After Arson at Pennsylvania Residence”

April 13, 2025, 2:03 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT: Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and his family were forced to flee from their residence early Sunday during an arson attack on the mansion in Harrisburg that significantly damaged a section of the building, the governor and state authorities… Continue reading

Federal Court Temporarily Blocks Certification of North Carolina Supreme Court Race as It Allows State-Court-Ordered Review of Overseas Ballots to Continue

April 13, 2025, 7:47 amjudicial electionsRick Hasen

Here’s the order issued Saturday: This matter comes before the court on Intervenor-Defendant Allison Riggs’ emergency motion for injunction and motion for status conference [DE 37]. Pursuant to the court’s authority under the All Writs Act, the motion is GRANTED… Continue reading

Read Justice Riggs’ Federal Court Motion for a Preliminary Injunction to Stop State Supreme Court Order That May Unconstitutionally Overturn Results of State Supreme Court Election

April 12, 2025, 8:51 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

You can read the filing raising due process and equal protection issues at this link. Here is my earlier coverage.

In a 4-2 Opinion that Will Disenfranchise Military and Other Voters and Likely Overturn the Results of a Valid Election in Violation of Due Process, North Carolina Supreme Court Allows Griffin Election Contest to Go Forward, in Part

April 11, 2025, 2:58 pmchicanery, election subversion risk, judicial elections, recountsRick Hasen

WRAL: Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin has won, in part, his effort to throw out thousands of voters’ ballots from the 2024 elections. On Friday the North Carolina Supreme Court rejected some of Griffin’s challenges but kept others alive, paving the… Continue reading

“Justice Kavanaugh Stays District Court Order in Ohio Ballot Initiative Dispute”

April 11, 2025, 12:18 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Jonathan Adler: On Wednesday evening, in Yost v. Brown, Justice Brett Kavanaugh entered a stay of a district court order in requiring Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to publish two contest ballot initiative summaries. Justice Kavanaugh also called for a response… Continue reading

“LDF Exits Meta’s Civil Rights Advisory Committee Over Harmful Content Moderation Practices, Urges Company to Reverse Course on DEIA Rollbacks”

April 11, 2025, 9:50 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Release via email: In two letters sent to Mark Zuckerberg today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has removed itself from Meta’s external civil rights advisory group due to concerns over its content moderation and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policy… Continue reading

Rick Pildes: Johns Hopkins Agora Institute Event on Executive Power and the Courts

April 11, 2025, 8:37 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

I’m happy to be doing this event shortly. The link to watch the event is here: https://hopkinsathome.jhu.edu/watch-now

“How DOGE may have improperly used Social Security data to push voter fraud narratives”

April 11, 2025, 7:28 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

NPR: One of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency lieutenants working in the Social Security Administration has been pushing dubious claims about noncitizens voting, apparently using access to data that court records suggest DOGE isn’t supposed to have. The staffer,… Continue reading

Must-read NYT: “Trump Escalates Use of Official Power to Intimidate and Punish His Perceived Foes”

April 11, 2025, 7:02 amauthoritarian threats in US, Department of JusticeRick Hasen

Savage, Haberman, Swan, and Schmidt in the NYT: President Trump’s first-term efforts to spur law enforcement officials to pursue his political enemies were haphazard, informal and often hashed out in private. Now, his demands for investigations are starting to… Continue reading

“Trump is Already Undermining the Next Election”

April 11, 2025, 6:57 amauthoritarian threats in US, election subversion riskRick Hasen

Paul Rozenzweig for The Atlantic: An unfortunate reality now confronts Americans who value the rule of law: The court system has limited capability to act as a guardrail against Trumpist authoritarianism. And so elections matter—vitally. The final and most powerful… Continue reading

“At the Supreme Court, the Trump Agenda Is Always an ‘Emergency'”

April 11, 2025, 6:53 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Abbie VanSickle for the NYT: The Trump administration has in recent weeks asked the Supreme Court to allow it to end birthright citizenship, to freeze more than a billion dollars in foreign aid and to permit the deportation of… Continue reading

Historians Keyssar and Wilentz Put SAVE Act’s Proposed Disenfranchisement in Historical Perspective

April 10, 2025, 9:31 amThe Voting WarsRick Hasen

Democracy Docket: Voting-rights advocates and Democratic officials have already made clear the massive threat the SAVE Act poses to access to the ballot in the here and now, warning that it could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. But in… Continue reading

“House passes bill that could make it harder for married women to vote” (SAVE Act)

April 10, 2025, 9:07 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

The 19th: The U.S. House has passed a bill that voting rights groups have repeatedly warned would make it harder for millions of Americans, including married women, to vote. The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted for the Safeguard American Voter… Continue reading

An Important Reminder about the Special Danger of the Chris Krebs Trump Announcement

April 10, 2025, 7:01 amauthoritarian threats in US, Department of JusticeRick Hasen

Politico: A president ordering investigations of specific individuals whom he considers to be his political enemies is a remarkable breach of the traditional wall of separation between the White House and the Justice Department. Under that norm of separation,… Continue reading

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The law of politics and the politics of law