…utionally required. What reading of which clause gives the decision legal force? If Rucho did not interpret the First Amendment or Equal Protection Clause on the merits, then the opinion’s (incorrect) objection that partisan gerrymandering claims “invariably sound in a desire for proportional representation” is beside the point. The more fundamental objection is that “deciding among . . . different versions of fairness . . . poses basic questio…
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…are comprised of well-intentioned individuals who are given the monumental task of producing an electoral map that ensures political fairness—a concept that courts and political theorists have been grappling with for decades without clear resolution. While IRCs may solve the conflict of interest problem, expertise is a concern. Indeed, because our collective voice is composed of the individual voices of many distinct and diverse groups, political…
Continue reading…y months to deliberating over new district lines do not want to cede their task to anyone, including the courts. So court intervention is both an option and inducement to act. However, when a panel of partisan nominated judges hand the matter over to an appointed Master, or worse, take a hands on approach to line drawing, political controversy follows. Do this enough times, and the reputation of the courts will suffer. But if we simulate a larg…
Continue reading…door neighbors who look a bit alike, as they gamely attempt the impossible task of distinguishing them. But really these two forms of gerrymandering are not so much adjacent as intertwined—under certain conditions even synonymous. And this intertwining is sometimes itself, in significant part, the product of political strategy. Former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) convinced his state-legislative colleagues to redraw the maps of Texas in the early 2000s…
Continue reading…er be recognized by federal courts. But they would nevertheless have legal force. And they would serve as powerful evidence that Rucho is wrong: that courts are indeed capable of deciding federal partisan gerrymandering claims consistently and non-arbitrarily. Two final points: First, a defendant against whom a federal partisan gerrymandering claim was brought couldn’t remove the case to federal court. That’s because, per Rucho, no federal court w…
Continue reading…fuse to recognize the plaintiffs’ actual position? Probably because of its force. The parallels between partisan vote dilution and racial vote dilution go on and on, and make it impossible to distinguish between the doctrines’ justiciability. First, both doctrines require proof of discriminatory intent. Second, the vote dilution condemned by both doctrines operates through the cracking and packing of groups of disfavored voters. Third, this diluti…
Continue reading…tical thicket, and, in states with substantial minority voter populations, force courts to make logically impossible determinations about whether racial reasons or partisan motives predominate when a party gerrymanders for political advantage. It didn’t have to be this way.… Second, we are in an era of hyperpartisanship, when a politician pays no political consequences (and indeed gets rewarded) for publicly declaring a partisan purpose. Indeed, R…
Continue reading…From this Washington Post piece by Amber Phillips: That’s what redistricting advocates in North Carolina plan to do next. “North Carolina can’t force redistricting reform on its legislature, but it can take it to the state courts, and we will go to the state courts,” said Allison Riggs, senior voting rights attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which argued the North Carolina redistricting case at the Supreme Court….
Continue reading…elerate winnowing the field, allowing voters to tackle the more manageable task of choosing from a short list of candidates vetted by the political professionals they themselves have already elected. It’s unclear to me what it would mean to use these polls of party figures to “formalize and accelerate winnowing the field.” That sounds like giving party figures distinctive, formal weight in the process — which in turn sounds like a partial return t…
Continue reading…est election equipment manufacturer has begun quietly lobbying Congress to force all voting equipment to create a paper trail, a sharp departure after years of selling paperless digital machines that can’t be fully audited. The change of stance comes amid concerns over the security of elections following Russia’s interference effort in the 2016 presidential election.“There’s a big recognition today that auditing is important, and to do a proper au…
Continue reading…the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevada’s electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose. I recognize that many of my fellow Nevadans may disagree on this point and I appreciate the legislature’s thoughtful consideration of this important issue. As Nevada’s governor, I am obligated to make such decisions according to my own conscience. In cas…
Continue reading…Memphis Law Review). Here is the abstract: Voter ID laws are currently in force in 35 states. In most states, these laws have been divisive and controversial. Our political parties see the world differently when it comes to voter ID requirements. Republicans are concerned with election integrity and claim that voter ID laws are necessary to prevent fraud. Democrats liken voter ID laws to the poll taxes and literacy tests of the past and claim the…
Continue reading…y campaign manager of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, has remained close to the president and has recently traveled on Air Force One….
Continue reading…poised to act as a major test for the FEC chair’s new strategy to try and force the agency to take more aggressive action to police campaign finance. Ellen Weintraub, the chair of the FEC, can’t discuss specific ongoing cases, but her recent statements make it clear that she doesn’t plan on voting to defend the agency in any cases involving delays in agency action. If she follows through on this promise, it would result in the first actual instan…
Continue reading…reaction after the election, I refused to concede6 6After her attempts to force a runoff fell short, Abrams ended her campaign for governor with a speech in which she said, ‘‘So let’s be clear — this is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper.’’ She added, ‘‘Democracy failed Georgians.’’ It was largely because I could not prove what had happened, but I knew from the calls that we got…
Continue reading…e agencies and the Department of Homeland Security have made permanent the task forces they created to confront 2018 midterm election interference, senior American national security officials said. “We recognize that our adversaries are going to keep adapting and upping their game,” Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, said Friday in a speech in Washington, citing the presence of Russian intelligence officers in the United States and the Krem…
Continue reading…ved their international law questions from an amicus brief filed by Eagle Forum, a fringe reactionary group founded by Phyllis Schlafly.)Meanwhile, Roberts, who seemed so deeply concerned about the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, has written and joined opinions gutting it of its force. And deference to executive agencies? Seriously? The contemporary conservative judicial philosophy, touted by Gorsuchand Kavanaugh, is rooted in opposition to agency d…
Continue reading…ery vote,” Kelly said in a statement. “I applaud all of the local and state officials who worked together to make this law a reality, especially those in Sedgwick County who were the driving force behind it.” The proposal had the backing of Sedgwick County and Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman and Wichita Democratic Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau….
Continue reading…his book is to highlight and promote electoral changes that are already in force – with positive results – in states and localities all over. Moreover, while pushing back against voter suppression is vitally important, it can’t be our only strategy to improve our democracy. That’s the message of the final chapter, “The Perils of Only Playing Defense.” We also need to focus on positive voting rights reforms. The goal is much higher turnout and an e…
Continue readingJohn Koza, the force behind the National Popular Vote initiative writes: Ohio news organizations have been trying to identify the mysterious backers of an initiative petition proposing an amendment to the Ohio Constitution requiring the Ohio legislature to guarantee the presidency to the candidate receiving the most popular votes nationwide. After making public records requests attempting to identify the backers, The Cincinnati Enquirer conclude…
Continue readingRebecca Beyer for the ABA Journal: One possible defense to any charge of campaign finance violations in the AMI/McDougal deal would come from the Federal Election Campaign Act’s distinction between campaign expenses and “personal use” expenses. (Edwards went with the personal use defense when he was unsuccessfully prosecuted for alleged in-kind contributions made to the woman with whom he had an affair.) Cohen and AMI both have admitted the McDo…
Continue reading…list bona fides by touting large numbers of small donations — an ascendant force in Democratic politics. But privately, most Democrats also badly need the big checks and are still going behind closed doors to woo the wealthy, whose money is critical to pay for campaign staff, travel and advertising. As a result, a traditional part of presidential races early on — candidates trumpeting big-money and well-connected contributors as a show of politica…
Continue reading…ommissions? The probable answer, as a white paper by Pack the Courts points out, is that this requirement could be struck down under the Supreme Court’s “anti-commandeering doctrine.” Under that principle, Congress can’t force state legislators to adopt or enforce a federal law. SCOTUS could easily cite the amorphous and ambiguous doctrine to justify invalidating the anti-gerrymandering provision of H.R. 1 on constitutional grounds….
Continue readingABA Journal: A dissent by Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement in a Mississippi gerrymandering case is raising some questions and eyebrows. What, exactly, did the federal appeals judge mean when she wrote that the state defendants “have simply had the poor luck of drawing a majority-minority panel”? Mother Jones initially surmised that Clement was referring to two minorities who wrote the majority decision. But it turns out that the two judges who…
Continue reading…ould like to help redraw the state’s congressional and legislative maps, a task with enormous political consequences. The once-a-decade redistricting process will also offer a rare chance for the dwindling ranks of Republicans to get equal billing with Democrats. When complete, the maps will offer the GOP its best — perhaps only — chance at launching an electoral comeback. Not that independent redistricting was designed to favor any political grou…
Continue reading…berations will improve the voting experience for all American voters.” The Task Force on Voter Registration will tackle the need for an accurate and secure list of eligible voters by looking at the entire registration process from start to finish. The primary focus will be to improve the ways voters get on the list, including the availability of registration options, the verification of voter eligibility, and the maintenance of voter rolls to keep…
Continue reading…ms. “We know Russia is going to be engaged. Other state actors have seen the success of Russia and realize the value of disinformation operations. So it’s very curious why the task forces were demoted in the bureaucracy and the leadership has not committed resources to prepare for the 2020 election.”…
Continue reading…use on a federal lawsuit alleging GOP gerrymandering, a move that could disrupt a settlement agreement announced Friday by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Benson’s deal with plaintiffs would require Michigan to redraw at least 11 state House districts. It would likely force a recalibration of an unknown number of surrounding districts as well. But attorneys for Republican lawmakers are asking the nation’s highest court to intervene a…
Continue reading…County was trying to cut the normally 4-year terms to 2 years in order to force new elections again. The Department was successful again.)Against this background, the 1992 elections took place, and somehow several dozen white voters who lived outside the closely-divided “swing” district that had elected a black commissioner in 1988 were allowed by white election officials to vote in that district. The official who permitted these white voters to…
Continue reading…retreads of the arguments over the College itself, or otherwise lacking in force. The legal objections fare little better. A common legal objection sounds in the Compact Clause, which prohibits any State from entering into “any Agreement or Compact with another State” without the consent of Congress. But the Supreme Court has long interpreted that Clause narrowly to apply only to agreements which encroach on federal authority. Another objection, t…
Continue readingNYT: The first votes of the Democratic presidential primary remain more than a year away, but black voters are keenly aware of the prominent role they will play in choosing the next nominee. In 2016, Mr. Sanders’s “political revolution” flamed out with black voters, and Hillary Clinton fell short of the robust black turnout she needed to defeat Donald J. Trump. This time around, Democrats are weighing how to reach out to the black community in th…
Continue reading…eme Court’s swing vote, Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2017 How States Could Force Trump to Release His Tax Returns, Politico Magazine, March 30, 2017 Does the First Amendment Protect Trump’s Travel Ban?, Slate, March 20, 2017 Why Gorsuch Could Lead Court in Wrong Direction, CNN, March 1, 2017 There’s a Simple Step North Carolina’s New Governor Could Take to Strengthen Voting Rights, Slate, February 2, 2017 Trump’s Voting Investigation Is a Great Id…
Continue reading…ACLU’s response to the news strongly suggests the organization will sue to force DeSantis and Florida officials to stop stalling and automatically restore voting rights. However, they may not get a welcome reception if their case ultimately makes it to Florida’s Supreme Court, which seems a probable endgame. That’s because DeSantis will get to appoint replacements for three liberal-leaning justices who face mandatory retirement just hours after he…
Continue reading…ing the Burden and Striking a Balance Lisa Manheim | 11/16/18 It’s no easy task to design effective voting rights legislation that can withstand Supreme Court review How Congress Can Use Its Constitutional Powers to Guarantee Voting Rights for All David Gans | 11/19/18 The Constitution explicitly gives Congress sweeping powers to protect the right to vote New Directions For Election-Law Reform Rick Pildes | 11/19/18 It’s time to consider some unfa…
Continue readingKC Star: Ron Calzone has been walking the hallways of the Missouri statehouse for years, meeting with lawmakers and their staffs, testifying before legislative committees and advocating for the conservative causes he holds dear. But he swears he’s not a lobbyist. True, he’s founder, director and sole officer of a nonprofit called Missouri First, a group that includes legislative lobbying to influence public policy in its charter. Calzone never wi…
Continue reading…cedented steps to remove Evers from the process. State law requires legislators to redraw the boundaries every 10 years to reflect population changes. It’s a high-stakes task since the party in control can craft maps that consolidate their power and lock in their majority for years….
Continue reading…ation, while powerful, are insufficiently nimble. We need the VRA back, in force. Though commentators talk about the burden on state autonomy of the preclearance system, its most profound power is actually in the room it allows local government to operate — even local governments that have earned national skepticism. Preclearance does not tell state and local officials what they must do. It tells them only what they must not do. As long as the mos…
Continue reading…n Kemp said it would hardly dent his “insurmountable lead” in the race for Georgia’s top job. The latest tally showed Abrams is roughly 55,000 votes behind Kemp — and in need of more than 17,000 votes to force a Dec. 4 runoff. Georgia law requires a runoff if no candidate gets a majority of the vote, which is only a possibility because a third-party contender netted about 1 percent….
Continue reading…Miami Herald: Palm Beach County’s race to recount votes is heating up — literally. The county’s decade-old ballot-counting machines overheated and gave incorrect totals, forcing the county to restart its recount of about 175,000 early votes., supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher said Tuesday night. The department has flown in mechanics to repair the machines….
Continue reading…y to about 59,000 votes. Some came from counties that days earlier reported all votes had been tallied. The newly-reported votes overwhelmingly tilted to Abrams and triggered a wave of celebration for Abrams supporters. But she still needs to net about 22,00 [sic] votes to force a Dec. 4 runoff, and there aren’t many votes that have yet to be reported. It’s unclear, however, just how many votes are still outstanding. Kemp’s campaign said there are…
Continue reading…evidence emerged of systematic malfeasance – or of enough tainted votes to force a runoff election between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams. The race remained too close to call Friday, three days after voting concluded. In unofficial returns, Kemp led with 50.3 percent of the vote. He had just 13,000 votes to spare to win outright without a runoff. As county and state election officials prepared to certify the results early next we…
Continue reading…for Protect Democracy Larry Schwartztol said, “That no person should be a judge in their own case is about as basic a rule of fairness as you can get. That principle, embodied in the Constitution’s Due Process Clause, applies with special force to Secretary Kemp, who has misused his official position to try to tilt the playing field of the election in his favor. The extreme facts of this case warrant emergency relief to protect the rights of Geor…
Continue readingPolitico: A series of court orders in September appeared poised to force so-called dark-money groups — which raise and spend unlimited sums from anonymous donors — to reveal some of their funders for the first time. But a month later, those donors are mostly still out of sight, and they could remain hidden as the dispute awaits a possible hearing at the Supreme Court. A major disclosure deadline passed Monday with few political nonprofits unveili…
Continue reading…e communities are connected by their profound needs and sense of political abandonment at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration has declared the nation’s war on poverty “largely over and a success.” There are many reasons why residents of Standing Rock don’t vote: the pressures associated with poverty, a sense of disenfranchisement and apathy, a lack of trust in government and politicians driven by unjust treatment of Native American…
Continue reading…in the Department of Driver Services or Social Security Administration databases. A non-match can result from something as simple as an election officials switching two numbers in the applicant’s driver’s license number, adding or removing a hyphen from a name, or changing a voter’s maiden name. The matching process also incorrectly flags U.S. citizens as non-citizens, even where the applicants submit a copy of their U.S. naturalization certifica…
Continue reading…ever, the Tenth Circuit has joined the Ninth in permitting a government to force a political party to select candidates through a primary rather than a caucus system, for the viewpoint-based purpose of avoiding candidates with “extreme views.” The questions presented are: 1 Does the First Amendment permit a government to compel a political party to use a state-preferred process for selecting a party’s standard-bearers for a general election, not t…
Continue reading…was a bare-knuckle brawl, and the nomination was muscled through by sheer force of political will. All of this inflicted collateral damage on the court, leaving it injured and diminished. It also left Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in a tricky spot. He will acquire an additional measure of power, taking the seat at the court’s ideological center that had been held by Justice Kennedy, whose retirement in July created the vacancy filled by Judge…
Continue reading…enduring domination of seats in state legislatures and even in the U.S. House of Representatives. The only realistic remedy would be for the people of a state to take the task of drawing new districts away from the legislature, or — ultimately — for the nation to amend the Constitution….
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