Divided Ninth Circuit finds Congress holds power to regulate presidential elections as it does congressional elections

February 26, 2025, 3:31 amcourt decisions, Elections ClauseDerek Muller

Justin helpfully runs through the major elements of the Ninth Circuit’s holding in Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes, but I wanted to highlight a divide in the opinion I wrote about back in 2022 just as this bill was introduced … Continue reading

Antebellum fusion

February 25, 2025, 4:20 pmballot access, political partiesJustin Levitt

Justin again. I had the “pleasure” of teaching Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party again yesterday. Timmons was a federal constitutional challenge to “anti-fusion” laws: laws preventing two parties on the ballot from nominating the same candidate (and thereby… Continue reading

9th Circuit affirms limits on AZ proof of citizenship laws

February 25, 2025, 3:50 pmabsentee ballots, election administration, NVRA (motor voter), The Voting Wars, voter registrationproof of citizenshipJustin Levitt

Justin here. A 9th Circuit panel is out with 156 pages’ worth of opinion in Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes, the latest in the battles revolving around Arizona’s laws requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote. There’s (obviously) quite a… Continue reading

“State Election Officials Seek to Avert Deeper Cuts”

February 25, 2025, 6:57 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

NYT: Alarmed by cuts already made to federal agencies that help safeguard elections, and fearful that more could be coming, a bipartisan group of the nation’s top state election officials has appealed to Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security,… Continue reading

“Before Ascending to Top Tier of F.B.I., Bongino Fueled Right-Wing Disbelief”

February 25, 2025, 6:51 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: On a recent episode of his wildly popular podcast, the right-wing provocateur Dan Bongino asserted that he would soon be able to show that pipe bombs found near the Capitol the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack were… Continue reading

Connecticut: “Arrest warrants detail charges of voter fraud in Bridgeport”

February 25, 2025, 6:49 amabsentee ballots, chicaneryRick Hasen

CT Mirror: State prosecutors took a big step Friday when they charged five Bridgeport Democrats with more than 150 election-related crimes, but arrest warrants suggest the sprawling investigation into voter fraud and ballot harvesting might not end there. The charges,… Continue reading

Department of Insanity (and Inanity): “Warner, Who Said CIA Stole Election, Now Leads DOJ Civil Rights”

February 24, 2025, 9:53 amchicanery, Department of Justice, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Bloomberg Law: The Justice Department has inserted Mac Warner, who last year espoused false claims that the CIA stole Trump’s 2020 presidential victory with the FBI’s help, to run the civil rights division, replacing an ousted career official who’s started… Continue reading

March 4 SDP Event and Webinar: “What Do Documentary Proof of Citizenship Requirements for Voter Registration Accomplish?” (with Arizona SOS Adrian Fontes, Nina Perales, and Walter Olson)

February 24, 2025, 9:23 amelection administrationRick Hasen

I am looking forward to moderating this event at UCLA Law and online, March 4 at 12:15 pm. Register here. Tuesday, March 4, 12:15pm-1:15pm PT at UCLA Law School Room 1327 and online Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State, Walter Olson,… Continue reading

“New polling shows most Portlanders prefer ranked choice”

February 24, 2025, 9:21 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Axios: A new poll shows most voters in Portland preferred ranked-choice voting to the city’s previous election method. Why it matters: Previous polling showed the new system was widely understood by most voters, but this survey is the first to… Continue reading

Pennsylvania: “Millbourne officials charged with brazen voter fraud scheme to try to steal a mayoral election”

February 24, 2025, 7:44 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Philly Inquirer: Three officials in a tiny borough in southeast Delaware County illegally cast dozens of ballots in a 2021 mayoral race, only to have their candidate lose, federal prosecutors allege. Federal prosecutors charged Millbourne Borough Council Vice President… Continue reading

“GOP Email System Infiltrated by Chinese Hackers Last Summer, New Book Reveals”

February 24, 2025, 7:41 amchicaneryRick Hasen

WSJ: As the Republican National Committee was gearing up for its convention in Milwaukee, it was also quietly dealing with a serious security breach of its internal communications by hackers with ties to the Chinese government, according to people familiar… Continue reading

“The Death of Competition in American Elections”

February 23, 2025, 4:32 pmpolitical parties, political polarization, redistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: President Trump’s return to Washington has tested the bounds of presidential power and set off alarms among Democrats, historians and legal scholars who are warning that the country’s democratic order is under threat. But a close review of… Continue reading

“Trump again raises idea of running for an unconstitutional third term”

February 23, 2025, 4:28 pmauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Washington Post: The suggestion followed a stretch of days in which Trump referred to himself as a king and quoted a dictator in suggesting that he was immune from following laws — all while his administration has continued pushing the … Continue reading