[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/23/13
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Sep 23 07:42:08 PDT 2013
"Groups flush with out-of-state cash flock to Virginia governor's
race as testing ground" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55426>
Posted on September 22, 2013 8:13 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55426>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/groups-flush-with-out-of-state-cash-flock-to-virginia-governors-race-as-testing-ground/2013/09/22/1209aeb8-2221-11e3-966c-9c4293c47ebe_story.html>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55426&title=%E2%80%9CGroups%20flush%20with%20out-of-state%20cash%20flock%20to%20Virginia%20governor%E2%80%99s%20race%20as%20testing%20ground%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
Vermont Law Review Disclosure Symposium
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55424>
Posted on September 22, 2013 11:44 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55424>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Features <http://lawreview.vermontlaw.edu/symposia/agenda/> some
interesting speakers and topics.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55424&title=Vermont%20Law%20Review%20Disclosure%20Symposium&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"After 'Shelby County' Ruling, Are Voting Rights Endangered?"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55422>
Posted on September 22, 2013 11:30 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55422>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jerry Goldfeder and Myrna Perez write
<http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=2581&Em=1&topicId=105160009&docId=l:1976442000&start=1&md5=1f3ba4e8c82d38f3c6f5eb279cf47ac&sendDate=20130922>
for the /NY Law Journal./
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55422&title=%E2%80%9CAfter%20%E2%80%98Shelby%20County%E2%80%99%20Ruling%2C%20Are%20Voting%20Rights%20Endangered%3F%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
"Supreme Court may strike new blow to campaign funding laws"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55420>
Posted on September 22, 2013 11:26 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55420>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LA Times McCutcheon preview
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-campaign-funds-20130922,0,4017320.story>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55420&title=%E2%80%9CSupreme%20Court%20may%20strike%20new%20blow%20to%20campaign%20funding%20laws%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"As shutdown and default loom, crisis mode becomes Washington's new
normal" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55418>
Posted on September 22, 2013 11:13 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55418>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-shutdown-and-default-loom-crisis-mode-becomes-washingtons-new-normal/2013/09/21/dd06feae-21fe-11e3-966c-9c4293c47ebe_story.html?hpid=z1>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55418&title=%E2%80%9CAs%20shutdown%20and%20default%20loom%2C%20crisis%20mode%20becomes%20Washington%E2%80%99s%20new%20normal%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, political parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>
"California Gives Expanded Rights to Noncitizens"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55416>
Posted on September 20, 2013 8:52 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55416>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/us/california-leads-in-expanding-noncitizens-rights.html?ref=politics&_r=0>
California is challenging the historic status of American
citizenship with measures to permit noncitizens to sit on juries and
monitor polls for elections in which they cannot vote and to open
the practice of law even to those here illegally. It is the leading
edge of a national trend that includes granting drivers' licenses
and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in some states and that
suggests legal residency could evolve into an appealing option
should immigration legislation fail to produce a path to citizenship.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55416&title=%E2%80%9CCalifornia%20Gives%20Expanded%20Rights%20to%20Noncitizens%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>
"Voting Rules and Constitutional Law"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55413>
Posted on September 20, 2013 8:46 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55413>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Can't wait to read this new piece
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2322765> by Ned
Foley (forthcoming /George Washington Law Review/). Here is the abstract:
Anyone concerned that Bush v. Gore may have been unprincipled or at
least insufficiently precise in its reasoning should have the same
concern about the leading voting law case emanating from the 2012
presidential election, Obama for America v. Husted. That case is
just as fact-specific in its holding as Bush v. Gore was. Moreover,
both cases are signs of a pervasive problem in contemporary election
law: the judicial evaluation of electoral rules under the prevailing
Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence is woefully indeterminate, as
also revealed in the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Indiana's
voter identification case (Crawford v. Marion County Election
Board). When one attempts to put Crawford together with Bush v.
Gore, as the lower courts attempted to do in Obama for America v.
Husted and other voting related litigation in 2012, one is at a loss
as to the specificity of the standard to apply to the facts of the
pending case. This indeterminacy is especially problematic in
election cases because it tempts judges to decide these politically
fraught cases according to their own partisan preferences, rather
than according to objectively discernible principles.
An alternative approach would be to have federal judges focus
explicitly on the problem of partisanship. The new test of a voting
procedure's constitutionality under the Fourteenth Amendment would
be whether it was imposed as an effort to tilt the electoral playing
field in favor of a particular political party. One advantage of
this new test is that it would substitute a relatively
straightforward single inquiry --- did the relevant arm of state
government engage in improper partisan manipulation of the electoral
process? --- for the currently incommensurate balancing of electoral
burdens and administrative benefits. Another advantage of this new
test would be that, by making federal judges more consciously (and,
in their opinions, expressly) attuned to the risks of improper
partisanship, it would increase the likelihood that federal judges
would do a better job at policing their own temptations towards
partisan rulings in high-stakes election cases.
My own writing about the Ohio case, in the same symposium, is here
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2182857>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55413&title=%E2%80%9CVoting%20Rules%20and%20Constitutional%20Law%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
"New Guidance for 501(c)(4)s on Measuring Primary Activity in the
Works, Official Says" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55410>
Posted on September 20, 2013 8:41 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55410>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=36647675&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0e1x7q7m8&split=0>:
The Internal Revenue Service is working on new guidance for Section
501(c)(4) tax-exempt groups relating to the measurement of an
organization's primary activity and whether the organization
operates primarily to promote social welfare, a Treasury Department
official said.
The guidance would include information relating to political
campaign intervention as well, Ruth Madrigal, attorney-adviser in
the department's office of tax policy, said. She referenced a May 14
report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on
the treatment of Tea Party and other political groups, showing that
the IRS has used inappropriate criteria when identifying groups for
review of their applications for tax exemption.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55410&title=%E2%80%9CNew%20Guidance%20for%20501%28c%29%284%29s%20on%20Measuring%20Primary%20Activity%20in%20the%20Works%2C%20Official%20Says%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
"Flood of Statements in Closed FEC Cases Comes as McGahn Departs
Commission" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55408>
Posted on September 20, 2013 8:31 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55408>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=36647674&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0e1x7p3p4&split=0>:
Federal Election Commission Vice Chairman Donald McGahn and fellow
FEC Republicans have released a series of statements about past FEC
enforcement cases, some years-old and going back to their earliest
days on the commission.
The move comes as McGahn prepares to leave the commission and return
to private law practice. The statements may help establish a legacy
for him by making it harder to enforce campaign finance rules in
ways that the outspoken commissioner disagreed with.
MORE:
In a footnote to one of the new statements, McGahn accused FEC
Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub of "manipulation" of the FEC agenda to
delay votes on some still-pending enforcement cases until the new
commissioners arrive. The statement was filed in a case---designated
Matter Under Review (MUR) 6543---regarding automated phone calls,
known as robocalls, that criticized Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).
Weintraub had faulted McGahn and other FEC Republicans for delaying
public release of the McHenry case. McGahn's statement said the case
was delayed because he asked FEC staffers to research whether the
FEC rules defining messages of "express advocacy" for or against a
candidate were enforceable.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D55408&title=%E2%80%9CFlood%20of%20Statements%20in%20Closed%20FEC%20Cases%20Comes%20as%20McGahn%20Departs%20Commission%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
--
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
hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130923/87f74718/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: share_save_171_16.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1504 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130923/87f74718/attachment.png>
View list directory