[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/16/13

Fri Nov 15 20:39:05 PST 2013

    "Voter Suppression's New Pretext" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56788>

Posted on November 15, 2013 8:27 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56788>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I have writtenthis oped 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/opinion/voter-suppressions-new-pretext.html> 
for the /NY Times/.  It begins: "IT'S the latest fad among state 
officials looking to make voting harder: We're not racist, we're just 
partisan."

Another snippet:

    Shifting the debate away from the "race versus party" question
    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2353068> toward
    protecting voters has many virtues. The Supreme Court isn't
    interested in expanding race-based remedies these days, and the
    Justice Department's suits against North Carolina, Texas and
    Wisconsin face an uphill battle. Yet the justices might well find a
    voter protection principle appealing. In 2012, lower courts started
    to push back
    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2182857> against
    Republican overreach in voting laws. Richard A. Posner, a federal
    appellate judge in Chicago, recently
    <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/23/why-judge-posner-is-right-on-voter-id-laws.html>
    expressed doubts
    <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115363/richard-posner-i-did-not-recant-my-opinion-voter-id>
    about having upheld Indiana's voter-ID law, which he now sees as a
    means of voter suppression. The pivotal swing vote on the Supreme
    Court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, also seems troubled
    <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-1580.ZC.html> by partisan
    considerations in state election law.

    If courts accepted my proposal to protect all voters, the Justice
    Department would not have to prove some legislators are racists. It
    would give new life to the goals of the Voting Rights Act and would
    protect not only minorities, but also other populations --- for
    example, college students, who appear to bear the brunt of voter-ID
    laws.

    If Republican legislatures were full of Don Yeltons who mouth off to
    "The Daily Show," proving a racial motivation would be easy. But
    they are not, and we need a new tool beyond race or party to protect
    everyone's voting rights.

I have a fuller discussion of these issues in my forthcoming /Harvard 
Law Review Forum /piece, Race or Party? How Courts Should Think About 
Republican Efforts to Make it Harder to Vote in North Carolina and 
Elsewher <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2353068>e.

The Times piece includes a great graphic. 
<http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/16/opinion/1116OPEDattardo/1116OPEDattardo-articleInline.jpg>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    "Earmark Ban Hits Lobbyists' Influence on Spending Bills"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56785>

Posted on November 15, 2013 5:16 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56785>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

    Roll Call:
    <http://www.rollcall.com/news/earmark_ban_hits_lobbyists_influence_on_spending_bills-229117-1.html>

    If the lobbying world of K Street was as powerful as its public
    image, earmarks would be back in full force in Congress --- or,
    maybe, they never would have gone away.

    The modern lobbying business was built largely on helping clients
    secure member- directed pots of money in annual appropriations
    bills. And many of the firms that pioneered the practice have taken
    a serious hit since lawmakers banned earmarks in 2010.

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Posted in legislation and legislatures 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, lobbying 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

    C-SPAN Hates Campaign Finance Disclosure?
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56783>

Posted on November 15, 2013 5:11 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56783>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI: 'Dark money' groups fueled by cable industry 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/11/15/13780/dark-money-groups-fueled-cable-industry>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    #VAAG: Is Virginia's Legislature Going to Decide Who is the Next VA
    Attorney General? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56781>

Posted on November 15, 2013 5:08 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56781>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

MSNBC: The victor in Virginia's attorney general race stands a chance of 
losing <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/virginia-attorney-general-recount>

Washington Times: Virginia's Attorney General Race Could End Up in 
General Assembly 
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/14/virginias-attorney-general-race-could-end-up-in-ge/?page=all#pagebreak>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
recounts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>, The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    "U.S. Government Opposes Motion By Right Wing 'True the Vote' to
    Intervene in TX Photo ID Case" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56779>

Posted on November 15, 2013 4:59 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56779>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This item <http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10340>appears at The Brad Blog.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
voter id <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    "Trial of two challenges to Wisconsin's voter ID law concludes;
    Federal judge is expected to decide case early next year"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56777>

Posted on November 15, 2013 4:55 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56777>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/trial-of-two-challenges-to-wisconsins-voter-id-law-concludes-b99143668z1-232136701.html>:

    An attorney challenging Wisconsin's voter ID law, the strictest in
    the nation, called it a voter suppression law, a "troubling blend of
    race and politics."

    John Ulin noted that the law passed in 2011 over the objection of
    every African American and Latino legislator, and he argued it has
    had a disproportionate negative impact on voters from those ethnic
    groups, in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

    Ulin spoke Friday during closing arguments in the non-jury trial of
    two lawsuits challenging the law, called Act 23. Eight days of
    testimony featured social scientists, bureaucrats and frustrated
    plaintiffs.

    Assistant Attorney General Clayton Kawski said the state had a
    legitimate interest in protecting the integrity of the electoral
    process and stopping fraud, and that the plaintiffs had not met
    their burden of proof to overturn the law.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

    "Former congressman --- a practicing lawyer --- may be breaking
    campaign reporting laws" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56775>

Posted on November 15, 2013 7:39 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56775>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI reports 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/11/15/13710/former-congressman-practicing-lawyer-may-be-breaking-campaign-reporting-laws>.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    "Campaign Finance Enforcement Strategies"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56773>

Posted on November 15, 2013 7:38 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56773>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bob Bauer blogs. 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/11/campaign-finance-enforcement-strategies/>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

-- 
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
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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