Travis Crum Primary ELB Blogger Next Week
Please send your tips to Travis, and wish him luck on his first full week handling the blog as an ELB contributor.
“The Instant Runoff Voting Patchwork: Handling Voter Errors and Ballot Length”
Tait Helgaas has written this student comment in the U. Pa. L. Rev. Here is the abstract:
As states and cities across the United States adopt instant runoff voting (IRV) in their constitutions and charters, they enact statutes and… Continue reading
Justice Riggs in 4th Circuit Cites Justice Scalia in Bush v. Gore to Support Her Request for Stay of “Cure” Order in North Carolina Supreme Court Election Dispute
From the 4th Circuit motion:
Proceeding with the proposed cure process also poses a serious risk of irreparable harm directly to Justice Riggs by undermining the legitimacy of her election victory. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay in… Continue reading
North Carolina: “Elections Officials Narrow Jefferson Griffin’s Path to Victory”
The Assembly:
Days after Republicans on the state Supreme Court created a path for Jefferson Griffin to overturn his 2024 loss to incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs, the Democratic-controlled State Board of Elections significantly narrowed it. …
On April 15, the… Continue reading
“State Department eliminates key office tasked with fighting foreign disinformation”
Politico:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the closure of the agency’s hub for fighting foreign disinformation campaigns — the final nail in a yearslong effort to shut down the office accused by GOP lawmakers of censoring conservative… Continue reading
“Elon Musk focuses donations on GOP lawmakers targeting judges”
WaPo:
Elon Musk targeted a flurry of money in late March to support Republican members of Congress who endorsed legislation to impeach judges or restrict their power, new filings revealed, bolstering his own push to punish judges who rule against… Continue reading
“Former Trump Official Targeted With Government Probe Vows to Fight”
WSJ:
A former top Trump administration official targeted with a federal investigation by President Trump said he would fight back against what he called an unprecedented campaign by the government to punish dissent.
Chris Krebs, one of Trump’s top cybersecurity … Continue reading
“Newer Problems in an Old, Broken Campaign Finance Regime—A Post-2024 Reflection”
John Martin has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, University of Pittsburgh Law Review). Here is the abstract:
Money in politics is ever-increasing in the United States, and the ways in which it manifests is ever-changing. The 2024 election cycle… Continue reading
Justice Riggs (and Others) Go to Fourth Circuit in an Emergency Effort to Stay the Federal District Court Ruling Allowing Steps Toward What is Likely an Unconstitutional Attempt to Redo State Judicial Election
Riggs’ case is assigned number 25-1397 in the Fourth Circuit. There are three other requests for stays from other parties that will likely be consolidated.
I wrote at Slate about the disaster of the district court’s order:
In a preliminary … Continue reading
“A Top Democratic Official Plots to Take Down Party Incumbents”
NYT:
Less than three months after the young political activist David Hogg was elected as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, he is undertaking a new project that is sure to rankle some fellow Democrats: spending millions of… Continue reading
Annals of Capitulation Dep’t: “Law Firms Made Deals With Trump. Now He Wants More From Them.”
NYT:
When some of the nation’s biggest law firms agreed to deals with President Trump, the terms appeared straightforward: In return for escaping the full force of his retribution campaign, the firms would do some free legal work on… Continue reading
“Wisconsin clerk who failed to count almost 200 ballots resigns amid internal investigation”
AP:
The municipal clerk in Wisconsin’s capital city has quit amid investigations into how she failed to count nearly 200 absentee ballots in the November elections.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s office announced City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl’s resignation on Monday. The… Continue reading
“Trump IRS Pick Was Just Enriched By Tax Schemers; New documents show Billy Long’s $130,000 personal debt was suddenly paid off by donors at firms policed by the tax agency he’d lead.”
The Lever:
President Donald Trump’s choice for Internal Revenue Service director just had his six-figure debt paid off by campaign donors whose firms have significant, often contentious business before the tax agency he would lead, according to federal records reviewed… Continue reading
Iowa overhauls its recount rules
As a former Iowa resident who saw the 6-vote margin of decision in Iowa’s Second Congressional District in 2020, I saw that the state’s recount laws could use a face lift. In 2025, the Iowa legislature, after previous fits and… Continue reading