[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/1/12

Sun Apr 1 08:10:16 PDT 2012

Sometimes it is difficult to know which decision or policy is an April Fool's joke.

Jerry H. Goldfeder
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
212-806-5857
917-680-3132
JGoldfeder at Stroock.com<mailto:JGoldfeder at Stroock.com>
www.stroock.com/goldfeder<http://www.stroock.com/goldfeder>

On Apr 1, 2012, at 10:57 AM, "Rick Hasen" <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:

Supreme Court Reverses Citizens United Case, 5-4; J. Kennedy Notes “Huge Mistake�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32480>
Posted on April 1, 2012 7:54 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32480> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Supreme Court, issued a rare weekend<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0> opinion<http://www.google.com/racing/> in a case out of Montana.  From Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion<http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/296132/page-prank-the-best-online-april-fools-day-jokes>:

Just two years ago, this Court held that the First Amendment prevents the government from enacting laws limiting corporate spending in elections. We stated that the identity of the corporate speaker does not matter, that independent spending can neither corrupt the election process nor cause the public to lose confidence in the fairness of elections. We also held that the government’s “antidistortion� interest in preventing the wealthy from drowning out the voice of others is an impermissible end for government regulation. We made a huge mistake.

Since 2010, election spending has increased greatly, through the emergence of “Super PACs� and misuse of the 501(c)(4) organizational form reserved in the Internal Revenue Code for “social welfare� organizations. This Court’s opinion in Citizens United, coupled by developments in the lower courts and the Federal Election Commission, means that a large percentage of the money spent in elections will likely be unreported, and it has become child’s play for individuals, corporations (and potentially–and illegally–even foreign individuals and corporations) to hide their identities.

“Enough is enough.� Cf. WRTL II (opinions of Roberts, C.J.) The government has a strong interest in the integrity of its elections and the prevention of corruption. Recent experience shows that independent spending can indeed corrupt and Congress (and states) may rightly conclude that the inevitable conflict of interest stemming from obscenely large amounts of money in our elections justifies reasonable limits on campaign contributions and spending. As we explain below, Citizens United and that portion of Buckley v. Valeo barring spending limits in elections are hereby overruled, leaving open the possibility for the government to demonstrate that narrowly tailored campaign contribution and spending limits which allow for robust political debate from multiple diverse voices are consistent with the First Amendment.

Justice Scalia, for himself, and Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, and Justice Thomas issued a brief dissent<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/01/149718325/npr-source-tweets-will-shrink-to-133-characters>, which begins:

Are you kidding me?

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, election law "humor"<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52> | Comments Off
Quote of the Day<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32477>
Posted on March 31, 2012 2:07 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32477> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

“And a court that gave us Bush v. Gore and Citizens United will prove conclusively that it sees no limits on its power, no need to defer to those elected to make our laws. A Supreme Court that is supposed to give us justice will instead deliver ideology.�

–E.J. Dionne<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/activist-judges-on-trial/2012/03/28/gIQAKdE2gS_story.html>, WaPo

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32477&title=Quote%20of%20the%20Day&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29> | Comments Off
“Romney under fire for PAC donation to anti-gay marriage group�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32474>
Posted on March 31, 2012 2:05 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32474> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-under-fire-for-pac-donation-to-anti-gay-marriage-group/2012/03/30/gIQAm7QolS_blog.html>.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32474&title=%E2%80%9CRomney%20under%20fire%20for%20PAC%20donation%20to%20anti-gay%20marriage%20group%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
“Wisconsin: Republicans to run “fake� candidates in Democratic Senate Primaries�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32472>
Posted on March 31, 2012 2:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32472> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This item<http://recallelections.blogspot.com/2012/03/wisconsin-republicans-to-run-fake.html> appears at the Recall Elections Blog.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32472&title=%E2%80%9CWisconsin%3A%20Republicans%20to%20run%20%E2%80%9Cfake%E2%80%9D%20candidates%20in%20Democratic%20Senate%20Primaries%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, recall elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=11> | Comments Off
“Primary Turnout Could Signal Trouble for G.O.P.�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32470>
Posted on March 31, 2012 2:03 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32470> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The NY Times reports<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/31/us/politics/primary-turnout-could-signal-trouble-for-gop.html?_r=1&ref=politics>.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32470&title=%E2%80%9CPrimary%20Turnout%20Could%20Signal%20Trouble%20for%20G.O.P.%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | Comments Off
“The Impact of Petition Signing on Voter Turnout�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32467>
Posted on March 31, 2012 2:00 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32467> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Janine A. Parry<http://www.springerlink.com/content/?Author=Janine+A.+Parry>, Daniel A. Smith<http://www.springerlink.com/content/?Author=Daniel+A.+Smith> and Shayne Henry<http://www.springerlink.com/content/?Author=Shayne+Henry> have written this article<http://www.springerlink.com/content/02wu6488370u382j/> for Political Behavior.  Here  is the abstract:

Generally speaking, campaign-related contact motivates voters. One form of such contact not much explored in the voter mobilization literature is the petitioning for ballot initiatives that occurs with considerable frequency in about half the states and even more localities. Using newly-available data that allow us to match individual petition signers with their subsequent election behavior, we explore the role of having had a hand in a ballot measure’s qualifying stage in propelling individual voters to the polls. Specifically, we perform multivariate analysis on a random sample of 1,000 registered Arkansas voters, 1,100 registered Florida voters, and all 71,119 registered voters in Gainesville, Florida to measure the influence of petition-signing in spurring voter turnout. We find marginal effects in the statewide samples, but substantial and significant turnout effects in the Gainesville municipal election—an off-cycle, low-profile election. Furthermore, the effect of petition-signing—across all of our samples—is strongest among irregular, as compared to habitual, voters. These findings are in keeping with recent campaign mobilization experimental research and comport with previous findings on the “educative effects� of ballot measures on voter turnout.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32467&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Impact%20of%20Petition%20Signing%20on%20Voter%20Turnout%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in petition signature gathering<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=39>, voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | Comments Off
“Republicans kill voter-registration measure�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32465>
Posted on March 31, 2012 1:58 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32465> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News<http://durangoherald.com/article/20120330/NEWS01/703309934/-1/s> from Colorado.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32465&title=%E2%80%9CRepublicans%20kill%20voter-registration%20measure%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | Comments Off
“Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with Disclosure Requirements�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32462>
Posted on March 31, 2012 1:56 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32462> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New GAO report<http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/589805.pdf>.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32462&title=%E2%80%9CLobbying%20Disclosure%3A%20Observations%20on%20Lobbyists%E2%80%99%20Compliance%20with%20Disclosure%20Requirements%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
“Van Hollen, Reformers Win Case Claiming FEC Disclosure Rules for Ads Are Too Lax�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32460>
Posted on March 31, 2012 1:54 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32460> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA reports<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=25748903&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0d1h4e6p1&split=0>.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32460&title=%E2%80%9CVan%20Hollen%2C%20Reformers%20Win%20Case%20Claiming%20FEC%20Disclosure%20Rules%20for%20Ads%20Are%20Too%20Lax%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
“Koch Brothers, Chamber of Commerce Face Possible Campaign Donation Disclosure After Ruling�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32457>
Posted on March 30, 2012 5:50 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32457> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Paul Blumenthal reports <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/koch-brothers-rove-fec-campaign-donations_n_1392838.html> for the Huffington Post.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32457&title=%E2%80%9CKoch%20Brothers%2C%20Chamber%20of%20Commerce%20Face%20Possible%20Campaign%20Donation%20Disclosure%20After%20Ruling%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
“Crankocracy In America; Who really benefitted from Citizens United?�<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32454>
Posted on March 30, 2012 4:33 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32454> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Timothy Noah writes<http://www.tnr.com/article/trb/magazine/102114/crankocracy-friess-simmons-oligarchs-election-america>.

Of course, we don’t know how much corporate money is coming into our elections through 501c4s, and c6s, but we know its there.<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32366>

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32454&title=%E2%80%9CCrankocracy%20In%20America%3B%20Who%20really%20benefitted%20from%20Citizens%20United%3F%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
Want to Get to Know the Super PAC Super Donors?<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32449>
Posted on March 30, 2012 2:45 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32449> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Spend some time<http://www.npr.org/2012/02/13/146836082/the-superpac-super-donors> with NPR.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32449&title=Want%20to%20Get%20to%20Know%20the%20Super%20PAC%20Super%20Donors%3F&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
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