“Cyclical Misalignment: A History of Campaign Finance Law”

November 6, 2025, 7:29 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Tony Gaughan has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Ohio State Law Journal). Here is the abstract: The role of money in politics poses a thorny challenge to democratic government. In a healthy democracy, individual voters should have an equal… Continue reading

“Professor Pildes: Effective Government Is the Forgotten Pillar of Democracy”

November 6, 2025, 5:46 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

I did this extended interview for the European Center for Populism Studies. Here is their summary: In an interview with the ECPS, Professor Richard H. Pildes, one of America’s leading constitutional scholars, warns that democracy’s survival depends not only on… Continue reading

“Republicans Swiftly File Lawsuit in Bid to Block California’s New House Maps”

November 5, 2025, 4:15 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: The lawsuit filed on Wednesday accuses California of violating the Constitution “when it drew new congressional district lines based on race, specifically to favor Hispanic voters, without cause or evidence to justify it.” The lawsuit points to statements made… Continue reading

“Redistricting Battles, Set Off by Trump, Have Few Parallels in U.S. History”

November 5, 2025, 1:29 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

NYT: But election lawyers and experts say that what is happening now is a crisis with few parallels in American history, especially given the potential weakening of the Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court is expected to rule on… Continue reading

“California Strikes Back in the Redistricting War”

November 5, 2025, 1:23 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Jon Allsop for The New Yorker.

The Complaint Filed By Republicans Against the Maps Created by California’s Prop 50 Raising Racial Gerrymandering and Intentional Discrimination Claims Faces an Uphill Battle, Especially Given 2026 Timing

November 5, 2025, 11:02 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can find the complaint here. The main argument in the case is that plaintiffs engaged in a racial gerrymander by making race the predominant factor in drawing district lines without s compelling reason to to so. The primary… Continue reading

The New Fraudulent Fraud Squad: “Trump Administration Chooses a Critic of California Elections to Monitor Them”

November 5, 2025, 7:53 amfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

NYT: When the Justice Department announced a week and half ago that it would send monitors to watch California’s elections, it didn’t say who exactly would be doing the monitoring. For Orange County, a populous and ethnically diverse area south… Continue reading

Joey Fishkin: “California’s Prop 50 passed. Now, here’s how to end partisan redistricting once and for all “

November 5, 2025, 7:35 ampolitical parties, political polarization, redistrictingRick Hasen

Joey Fishkin with an important piece in the SF Chronicle: The nationalization of politics also provides an opening to solve this problem. Congress has the power to do what it did in 1842: Enact a statute to bring both parties… Continue reading

“Mark Cuban Joins Legal Fight Against Dark Money and Super PACs”

November 5, 2025, 5:41 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

This is a story in Sportico about HLS’s Election Law Clinic’s amicus brief on behalf of a group of billionaires arguing that Maine’s limit on Super PAC contributions doesn’t burden their speech and serves important goals including preventing corruption and… Continue reading

Proposition 50: “California voters pass anti-Trump, pro-Democrat ballot measure”

November 4, 2025, 8:17 pmdirect democracy, redistrictingRick Hasen

LA Times: California Democrats’ effort to block President Trump’s agenda by increasing their party’s numbers in Congress was overwhelmingly approved by voters on Tuesday. The Associated Press called the victory moments after the polls closed Tuesday night. The statewide… Continue reading

“All three Pa. Supreme Court justices are retained following a historically expensive race”

November 4, 2025, 8:15 pmjudicial electionsRick Hasen

Philly Inquirer: All three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices on Tuesday’s ballot for retention will remain on the bench, following an unprecedented and closely watched retention election that eclipsed previous spending records as Democrats sought to protect the liberal judges. Pennsylvania’s… Continue reading

“Mainers reject voter ID, absentee ballot restrictions as Question 1 fails”

November 4, 2025, 8:13 pmabsentee ballots, direct democracy, voter idRick Hasen

Maine Public: Maine voters rejected a referendum on Tuesday that would have required a photo ID to cast a ballot and that proposed multiple changes to Maine’s increasingly popular absentee voting process. The Associated Press called the race at 9:54… Continue reading

“Kansas Republicans drop push to enter nation’s widening redistricting battle”

November 4, 2025, 5:39 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

AP reports.

“Republicans Reprise Unfounded Claims of Widespread Election Interference”

November 4, 2025, 5:30 pmfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

NYT with the subhed: “Prominent conservatives, including the president, sounded familiar alarms about voter suppression and other efforts to manipulate the vote on Election Day, without presenting evidence.” From the body: The reflex to declare interference shows how much the… Continue reading