[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/21/14
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Jan 20 20:43:40 PST 2014
"Can Three Lawmakers Revive the Voting Rights Act After the Supreme
Court Trashed It?" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58128>
Posted on January 20, 2014 7:47 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58128>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Kevin Drum
<http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/01/voting-rights-act-revive-supreme-court-congress>:
And now for the big question: does this legislation have any chance
of passing? It doesn't seem likely. The shiny new formula might
satisfy Justice Roberts, but it would put four deep-red states back
into preclearance jail: Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
And what would Republicans get in return? They seem to have given up
entirely on appealing to non-white voters, so there's nothing for
them there. And while it's one thing to feel obliged to vote in
favor of renewing a historic law that's currently on the books, as
most Republicans did in 2006, it's quite another to invite a vote
that you don't have to take in the first place.
So the odds seem pretty long against reviving preclearance. That may
be a helluva note to usher in Martin Luther King Jr. Day with, but
it's most likely the truth. Now that blacks and Hispanics identify
so overwhelmingly as Democrats, Republicans simply have no incentive
to make it easier for them to vote. Nor does it seem possible to
shame them into doing it, as it was even eight years ago. The GOP
has simply changed too much since 2006.
Half a century ago, the fight over the VRA was a fight between
racists and everyone else. Today, it's a fight between Republicans
and Democrats. You'd think that might make it an easier fight to
win, not a harder one. But it's not.
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Posted in The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
"Voter suppression is a threat to all"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58126>
Posted on January 20, 2014 7:42 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58126>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Marcus Anthony Hunter has written this WaPo oped.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/voter-suppression-is-a-threat-to-all/2014/01/19/abc56154-7fa6-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
Quote of the Day, MLK Day Edition <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58123>
Posted on January 20, 2014 7:40 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58123>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
"[Justice Ginsburg's dissent in /Shelby/ County]//got it right when she
said throwing out the existing process when it's working and continues
to work is like throwing away an umbrella in a rainstorm because you're
not getting wet...And now we're in a hailstorm."
--Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by the /Washington Times/
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/20/mlk-day-biden-slams-state-voter-id-laws/>,
at MLK Day event.
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
"Heed King's Lesson: Only Congress Can Preserve Voting Rights"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58119>
Posted on January 20, 2014 6:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58119>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jesse Rhodes and Avi Green write
<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/heed-king-s-lesson-only-congress-can-preserve-voting-rights>for
TPM Cafe.
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Posted in Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>, VRAA
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>
"EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Michael Grimm may have used 'donor swapping' to
skirt fundraising limit" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58117>
Posted on January 20, 2014 6:44 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58117>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NY Daily News: <http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1585137>
The swapping works like this: A donor gives the maximum to Candidate
A donates to Candidate B --- and in return, a donor or friend of
Candidate B gives an identical amount to Candidate A.
A Daily News review of 2010 federal fundraising records found more
than 20 transactions that suggest supporters of Grimm and candidates
in California, South Dakota, Illinois and Virginia swapped donations
totalling more than $75,000.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
John Fund Piece on Pa Voter ID Decision Quotes Judge Posner's
Crawford Decision But Neglects to Mention the Judge's Doubts
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58115>
Posted on January 20, 2014 6:40 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58115>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Fund: <http://www.nationalreview.com/node/368864/print>
As for allegations that there is scant evidence that people commit voter
fraud at polling places, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals addressed
<http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1256297.html> these when it
upheld Indiana's voter-ID law:
There is voter fraud, specifically the form of voting fraud in which
a person shows up at the polls claiming to be someone else ---
someone who has left the district, or died, too recently to have
been removed from the list of registered voters, or someone who has
not voted yet on election day. Without requiring a photo ID, there
is little if any chance of preventing this kind of fraud because
busy poll workers are unlikely to scrutinize signatures carefully
and argue with people who deny having forged someone else's
signature. . . . The absence of prosecutions is explained by the
endemic underenforcement of minor criminal laws (minor as they
appear to the public and prosecutors, at all events) and by the
extreme difficulty of apprehending a voter impersonator.
Would have been nice for Fund to mention Judge Posner's
recantation/doubts <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56300> about this
analysis.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>
"Virginia Republicans Ram through Unconstitutional Redistricting
Bill on Party-Line Vote" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58107>
Posted on January 20, 2014 3:42 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58107>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
I expect we will hear more about this
<http://www.bluevirginia.us/diary/10900/virginia-republicans-ram-through-unconstitutional-redistricting-bill-on-partyline-vote?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#.Ut2z7-niF4Y.twitter>.
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>
NYT Ed Board Wants to Scrap the FEC
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58105>
Posted on January 20, 2014 3:17 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58105>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
But it likes
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/opinion/dangerous-inaction-by-the-election-commission.html>
the staff!
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
"A Loophole Allows Lawmakers to Reel In Trips and Donations"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58103>
Posted on January 20, 2014 10:26 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58103>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Must-read Eric Lipton NYT A1 piece
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/us/politics/a-loophole-allows-lawmakers-to-reel-in-trips-and-donations.html?hp&_r=0>.
UPDATE: Don't miss
<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/20/us/politics/20lobby-resort-documents.html>
the interactive graphic to look at the original docs.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>
"Is This Any Way to Remember MLK? Racism is alive and well in
America. So why is the new voting rights act so weak?"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58101>
Posted on January 20, 2014 10:23 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58101>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Andrew Cohen writes
<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/martin-luther-king-jr-voting-rights-act-102371_full.html#.Ut1pc_aIais>
for /Politico /magazine.
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>, VRAA
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>
"State's Rights, Last Rites, and Voting Rights"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58099>
Posted on January 20, 2014 10:21 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58099>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Guy Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer has posted this interesting draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2377475> on SSRN.
Here is the abstract:
There are two ways to read the Court's decision in Shelby County, as
a minimalist decision and as a decision that has undermined the
basic infrastructure of voting rights policy, law, and
jurisprudence. In this Essay, we present the case for reading Shelby
County as deeply destabilizing. We argue that Shelby County has
undermined three assumptions that are foundational to voting rights
policy, law, and jurisprudence. First, the Court has generally
granted primacy of the federal government over the states. Second,
the Court has deferred to Congress particularly where Congress is
regulating at the intersection of race and voting. Third, the Court
and Congress have understood that racial discrimination is the
problem and have operated from a similar conception of what racial
discrimination means. Shelby County undermines all three
assumptions. We explore what this means for voting rights policy,
law, and jurisprudence going forward.
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
--
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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