[EL] ELB & Leg News and Commentary 8/21/14

[Dan Tokaji]

“Judge doubts Miss. challenge can be decided by Nov. 4″
Posted on August 21, 2014 9:00 am by Dan Tokaji
The latest on #MSSEN.


Posted in campaigns, recounts
“For political fundraising e-mails, ‘Hey’ is out. :D is in”
Posted on August 21, 2014 8:30 am by Dan Tokaji
The Fix has this post.


Posted in campaign finance
“Lawyers Spar in Florida Over Newest Voting Map”
Posted on August 21, 2014 8:11 am by Dan Tokaji
NYT has this story.


Posted in redistricting
“Ex-Governor Points the Finger at His Wife in a Virginia Trial”
Posted on August 21, 2014 8:06 am by Dan Tokaji
From the NYT, more on former Gov. McDonnell’s Macbeth defense in his corruption trial.


Posted in bribery, chicanery
“In July, DNC outraises RNC”
Posted on August 21, 2014 7:58 am by Dan Tokaji
AP reports.


Posted in campaign finance
“Originalism and the Scope of the Constitution’s Disqualification Clause”
Posted on August 21, 2014 7:52 am by Dan Tokaji
Seth Tillman has posted this draft on SSRN.  From the abstract:

This paper discusses the scope of the Constitution’s Disqualification Clause (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7) and the original public meaning of its “office . . . under the United States” language. In a recent paper in this journal, Benjamin Cassady argued that this clause bars disqualified former presidents, vice presidents, and officers of the United States from subsequent election or reelection to the presidency and vice presidency. Here, I take the contrary position: disqualified former presidents, vice presidents, and officers of the United States are not barred from any elected positions, state or federal. Rather, such disqualified former presidents, vice presidents, and officers of the United States are only barred from holding statutory or appointed federal offices. Finally, I address some issues relating to best methodological practices and the use of structural and other intuitionist modalities of interpretation when constitutional text is reasonably clear.


Posted in election law and constitutional law
Buddy PACs and the Brennan Center Report
Posted on August 21, 2014 7:46 am by Dan Tokaji
BNA ($) and In the Capital discuss the Brennan Center report on outside spending in nine U.S. Senate Races released Monday, focusing on spending by single-candidate groups — or “Buddy PACs,” as Renata Strause and I call them in The New Soft Money.


Posted in campaign finance
Bauer on “The Criminalization of Politics”
Posted on August 21, 2014 7:12 am by Dan Tokaji
Bob Bauer has this post raising questions about what this term means.  A snippet:

The “criminalization” of politics is self-evidently undesirable. Then again it is far from sure what the argument against it is meant to cover, that is, the nature of the “politics” that we should worry about criminalizing.


Posted in chicanery
More on Calling Ferguson Voter Registration Drive “Disgusting”
Posted on August 21, 2014 7:05 am by Dan Tokaji
From the New Republic and Mother Jones, criticism of Missouri GOP Executive Director Matt Wills’ remark quoted earlier this week on Breitbart.


Posted in voter registration
“Florida’s New Redistricting Plan: Round Two”
Posted on August 21, 2014 6:40 am by Dan Tokaji
WSJ’s Washington Wire has this post on yesterday’s arguments in the Florida congressional redistricting case.


Posted in redistricting
“The Abuse of Incumbency on Trial: Limits on Legalizing Politics”
Posted on August 21, 2014 6:13 am by Dan Tokaji
Patrick Roath has published this note, germane to the recurrent topic of criminalizing politics raised most recently by the Perry indictment.  Here’s the abstract of the note, which appears in the Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems:

In politics, incumbency comes with significant advantages.  Government officials running for reelection can use the benefits of their incumbent position to speak with their constituents and, at least incidentally, support their reelection.  At some point, an incumbent candidate’s use of those privileges becomes abuse – and possibly a criminal act. Using a case study, this Note explores the fine line between the legitimate use and illegitimate abuse of official incumbency to advance political goals, arguing that courts should consider the justiciability of abuse of incumbency claims in light of the unique separation of powers concerns such cases often raise.  The claim is ultimately a modest one: this is an area of the law with particularly difficult line-drawing questions and few clear doctrinal solutions.


Posted in chicanery
Survey of State Constitutional Convention Procedures
Posted on August 21, 2014 6:01 am by Dan Tokaji
Jim Snider has compiled this survey of 14 states with periodic state constitutional convention referendums along with a preliminary ranking at the Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse.


Posted in direct democracy, referendum

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