[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/17/14

Wed Apr 16 21:30:45 PDT 2014

    Latest on the VRAA: Still Waiting on Cantor
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60569>

Posted on April 16, 2014 9:22 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60569>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Hill reports 
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/203626-clock-ticking-on-2014-fix-to-the-voting-rights-act> 
on the ticking clock.

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Posted in VRAA <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>

    "IRS chief committed to new rules for nonprofits despite
    conservative resistance" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60567>

Posted on April 16, 2014 6:43 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60567>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/irs-chief-committed-to-new-rules-for-nonprofits-despite-conservative-resistance/2014/04/16/c369de2e-c593-11e3-bf7a-be01a9b69cf1_story.html>.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

    Linda Greenhouse on McCutcheon <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60565>

Posted on April 16, 2014 6:08 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60565>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT: <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/opinion/an-indecent-burial.html>

    This time, five justices did actually manage to toss something out
    the window: the post-Watergate system of campaign finance regulation.

    Only Justice Clarence Thomas, who refused to sign the four-justice
    plurality opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. because it
    didn't go far enough, would have explicitly overturned the court's
    foundational precedents in this area. The chief justice tried in his
    own opinion to persuade readers that while striking down the
    aggregate limits on contributions to federal candidates, parties and
    political committees, the court was actually leaving a meaningful
    regulatory edifice still standing --- one that could remain
    standing, despite the expansive "money is speech" view of the First
    Amendment and the extremely cramped definition of corruption that
    the McCutcheon opinion embraced.

    Maybe somewhere in the country there is someone sufficiently out of
    touch with political reality to be open to the chief justice's
    persuasion. Not David Ransohoff, a nonpolitical doctor friend of
    mine who last week forwarded to me the story from The Times
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/business/doctor-with-big-medicare-billings-is-no-stranger-to-scrutiny.html?hpw&rref=politics&action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults&mabReward=csesort%3Ah&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry193%23%2F%2522political%2Bties%2Bof%2Btop%2Bbillers%2522%2F30days%2F>
    about the six-figure political contributions made by the doctors who
    are the country's top Medicare billers. "While I was initially
    disturbed by this report," my friend wrote in his wry email, "John
    Roberts reassured me that, because there was no clear quid pro quo,
    this was just 'free speech, democracy in action.' "

    I'll leave it to the election-law experts to assess the practical
    impact of the decision. It has already set off a wave of
    deregulation at the state level, where aggregate contribution limits
    are under attack in those states that haven't already announced that
    they will no longer enforce them. Clearly, the federal limits have
    been easy enough to evade, openly and legally through independent
    expenditures and new types of committees; for Sheldon Adelson, the
    right-wing casino mogul who spent nearly $100 million during the
    2012 campaign season, the $123,200 direct contribution limit that
    the McCutcheon decision invalidated would have been little more than
    a rounding error.

    My interest here is less the real-world impact than what the
    decision tells us about the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Roberts,
    who at this rate and at age 59 figures to be with us a good deal
    longer than campaign finance laws. Deregulating campaign finance is
    clearly part of his long-term project. In the course of his opinion,
    the chief justice made some moves that are worth highlighting for
    the way in which they illuminate both his method and his priorities.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

    "Could America Become a Banana Republic? The Supreme Court's recent
    McCutcheon ruling paves the way for a new era of political
    corruption in the U.S." <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60563>

Posted on April 16, 2014 5:53 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60563>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Don't miss 
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/could-america-become-a-banana-republic-20140416> 
Norm Ornstein's take on McCutcheon.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

    "ACLU of Arkansas files suit over voter I.D. law"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60561>

Posted on April 16, 2014 3:46 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60561>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This one 
<http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/04/16/aclu-of-arkansas-files-suit-over-voter-id-law> 
is in state court.

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Posted in The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    "Meet TrustTheVote, A Project To Make Voting Open Source And
    Transparent" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60559>

Posted on April 16, 2014 3:16 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60559>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TechCrunch reports 
<http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/meet-trustthevote-a-project-to-make-voting-open-source-and-transparent/>. 
How many people will confuse True the Vote and TrustTheVote?

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Posted in voting technology <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

    "John Roberts and the Color of Money; Applying the history of white
    supremacy in America to the Supreme Court's McCutcheon decision "
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60557>

Posted on April 16, 2014 3:16 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60557>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tom Levenson writes 
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/john-roberts-and-the-color-of-money/360740/> 
at /The Atlantic./

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    "House Lawyers Defend 'Speech or Debate' Protections"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60555>

Posted on April 16, 2014 12:20 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60555>by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

/Legal Times/ 
<http://www.nationallawjournal.com/legaltimes/home/id=1202651356586/>:

    A bipartisan group of congressional leaders filed court papers
    Tuesday defending the constitutional shield that protects members of
    Congress and their staff from being forced to provide information
    about legislative activities.

    The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of
    Representatives filed the amicus brief
    <http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/house-amicus-renzi.pdf> in the U.S.
    Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where former U.S. Rep. Rick
    Renzi, R-Ariz., is challenging his conviction on public corruption
    charges.

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Posted in legislation and legislatures 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, Speech or Debate Clause 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=36>

    "Iowa Supreme Court splits over what kinds of criminals can vote"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60553>

Posted on April 16, 2014 9:35 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60553>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ryan Koopmans 
<http://www.iowaappeals.com/iowa-supreme-court-rules-that-aggravated-misdemeanors-arent-infamous/>:

    We didn't have to wait long for the Supreme Court to decide its most
    important case of the term.  Last Tuesday, the justices heard
    arguments over whether a second OWI offense is an "infamous crime"
    under the Iowa Constitution.  Yesterday--one week after the oral
    argument--the Iowa Supreme Court ruled
    <http://www.iowacourts.gov/About_the_Courts/Supreme_Court/Supreme_Court_Opinions/Recent_Opinions/20140415/14-0553.pdf>,
    by a 5-1 vote, that it's not.

    That might not seem that important.  It is.

    For starters, it means that that Tony Bisignano can run for State
    Senate.  Article II, section 5 of the Iowa Constitution says that a
    person who's been convicted of an "infamous crime" can't be an
    "elector" (which means they can't run for office), and one of
    Bisignano's primary opponents (Ned Chiodo) argued that a second OWI
    (which Bisignano has been convicted of) is an infamous crime.  Five
    of the six sitting justices disagreed with that. (The seventh,
    Justice Appel, was recused.)

    But the case is much bigger than one Senate race.  And that's where
    it gets interesting.

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Posted in felon voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

    "Why putting photos on Social Security cards won't save voting
    rights" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60551>

Posted on April 16, 2014 9:09 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60551>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Hiltzik blogs 
<http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-on-photo-id-20140412,0,4002292.column#ixzz2z4AO2lhg> 
at LAT.

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

-- 
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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