[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/29/14
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Jan 29 08:14:17 PST 2014
When Not to Ask a Member of Congress about a Campaign Finance
Controversy <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58413>
Posted on January 29, 2014 8:07 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58413>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
When
<http://www.ny1.com/content/politics/political_news/202674/rep--grimm-threatens-ny1-reporter-following-state-of-the-union>
you don't want to be broken "in half, like a boy."
More:
"And just finally before we let you go, we haven't had a chance to
talk about some of the..." Scotto began before Grimm cut him off.
"I'm not speaking to you off-topic, this is only about the
president," said Grimm, before walking off camera.
"So Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of
the allegations concerning his campaign finances," Scotto said
before tossing back to the station. But as the camera continued to
roll, Grimm walked back up to Scotto and began speaking to him in a
low voice.
"What?" Scotto responded. "I just wanted to ask you..."
Grimm: "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll
throw you off this f-----g balcony."
Scotto: "Why? I just wanted to ask you..."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "If you ever do that to me again..."
Scotto: "Why? Why? It's a valid question."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll
break you in half. Like a boy."
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Dahlia on the Little Sisters Case <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58411>
Posted on January 29, 2014 8:05 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58411>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Slate:
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/01/little_sisters_contraception_mandate_case_it_s_about_more_than_just_a_form.html>
"This isn't just a fight over what signing the form means, it's a fight
about who gets to decide what fighting over the form means: Barack Obama
or God? And who wants to be the judge of that?"
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
"Prominent Defenders for Nominee to Head Civil Right Division"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58409>
Posted on January 29, 2014 7:57 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58409>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NLJ
<http://www.nationallawjournal.com/legaltimes/id=1202640408245?kw=Prominent%20Defenders%20for%20Nominee%20to%20Head%20Civil%20Right%20Division&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20140128&src=EMC-Email&pt=Legal%20Times%20Afternoon%20Update#>
on Debo Adegbile.
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Posted in Department of Justice <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>
"Obama Touts Voting Rights Bill, Patent Reform"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58407>
Posted on January 29, 2014 7:56 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58407>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NLJ
<http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202640487525?kw=Obama%20Touts%20Voting%20Rights%20Bill%2C%20Patent%20Reform&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20140129&src=EMC-Email&pt=Daily%20Headlines>:
"Last year, part of the Voting Rights Act was weakened," Obama said
tonight. "But conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are
working together to strengthen it."
Obama also touted the report of the Presidential Commission on
Election Administration to address a range of electoral issues,
including voting accessibility and voting machine technology.
The president announced the commission during last year's State of
the Union, and chose his 2008 and 2012 campaign counsel, Robert
Bauer of Perkins Coie, and Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 campaign
counsel, Benjamin Ginsberg of Patton Boggs, to lead the 10-member group.
"The bipartisan commission I appointed last year has offered reforms
so that no one has to wait more than a half hour to vote. Let's
support these efforts," Obama said. "It should be the power of our
vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy."
Jess Bravin
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/01/28/obama-delivers-subtle-messages-to-justices/>
:
Chastened after his 2010 State of the Union address, when his
explicit criticism of a Supreme Court decision sparked a rebuke from
several justices, President Barack Obama
<http://topics.wsj.com/person/O/barack,-obama/4328> took a more
subtle approach Tuesday regarding a ruling he considers misguided.
The reference in Tuesday's address to Congress was so subtle, in
fact, that television camera operators apparently didn't realize
what he was referring to, and failed to cut to attending justices
for a reaction shot.
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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>
"The Case Against Early Voting" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58404>
Posted on January 29, 2014 7:48 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58404>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Eugene Kontorovich and John McGinnis:
<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/early-voting-the-case-against-102748.html#ixzz2rnqOkgHS>
The commission rightly notes that early voting has its advantages
for individual voters --- not just avoiding long lines, but in many
cases also getting to vote on weekends without having to miss work
or school. But early voting run amok is bad for democracy. The costs
to collective self-governance --- which the report refers to only in
passing, in a single sentence --- substantially outweigh the
benefits. Instead of expanding the practice, we should use this
moment as an opportunity to establish clear limits on it before it
becomes the norm.
Why? For all its conveniences, early voting threatens the basic
nature of citizen choice in democratic, republican government. In
elections, candidates make competing appeals to the people and
provide them with the information necessary to be able to make a
choice. Citizens also engage with one another, debating and
deliberating about the best options for the country. Especially in
an age of so many nonpolitical distractions, it is important to
preserve the space of a general election campaign --- from the early
kickoff rallies to the last debates in October --- to allow voters
to think through, together, the serious issues that face the nation.
Oddly enough, they still endorse "old fashioned absentee ballots," which
seem to raise /exactly /the same issue.
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Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>,
election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
Bauer on Teachout on the Anti-Corruption Principle
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58402>
Posted on January 29, 2014 7:42 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58402>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
He's not impressed
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2014/01/theory-practice-principles-purposes-uses-anti-corruption-principle/>.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"McCutcheon and the Meaning of Corruption: Not All Quid Pro Quos are
Made of the Same Stuff" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58400>
Posted on January 28, 2014 4:26 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58400>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Zephyr Teachout has postedthis draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2387041>on SSRN.
Here is the abstract:
This Article critiques the use of quid pro quo as a method of
defining corruption in campaign finance law cases.
I argue first that quid pro quo has no definite meaning. Therefore,
one doesn't avoid the problem of defining corruption by attaching
"quid pro quo" to it. In the case law, sometimes it means explicit
agreements, sometimes it means agreements about specific things,
sometimes it is redundant, and sometimes it encompasses gifts in
exchange for a promise to help out "as opportunities arise," a
definition that sounds very close to the "influence seeking" that a
majority of the Court has previously categorized as "not corruption."
Second, I show that quid pro quo language has shallow roots. It is
not a major part of traditional white collar criminal law doctrine:
it appears through Buckley, and gets ported over to bribery laws.
Relatedly, I show that quid pro quo is not a requirement in many
states for proving bribery.
Third, I argue that the use of quid pro quo as a limit in criminal
bribery law comes from Due Process and prosecutorial discretion, not
from the meaning of corruption itself. This kind of limit makes
sense when interpreting criminal laws: the same limits don't make
sense when interpreting the constitutional meaning of corruption.
Due Process-derived constraints should be understood for what they
are, not definitional constraints.
Fourth, I show how the importation of bribery law terms to
constitutional law deliberations reflects a positivism that is
uniquely poorly suited to corruption definitions.
What the Court has already done in Citizens United, and seems poised
to do in McCutcheon, is port over the definition of corruption from
a smattering of "intent" based white collar criminal statutes in
order to define the scope of corruption as a (quasi-)Constitutional
principle. The portage is done through the language of quid pro quo.
As I argue in this piece, this transference is not justified, is bad
history, and makes bad law.
It is an early draft, and comments are welcome!
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
"Will McCutcheon Replay Citizens United? | Rules of the Game"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58398>
Posted on January 28, 2014 11:58 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58398>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Eliza.
<http://blogs.rollcall.com/beltway-insiders/will-mccutcheon-replay-citizens-united-rules-of-the-game/>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
"California Sen. Rod Wright convicted of perjury, voter fraud"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58396>
Posted on January 28, 2014 11:49 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58396>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LA Times
<http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-rod-wright-verdict-20140127,0,2754903.story#axzz2rixrjeic>:
A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday convicted state Sen. Roderick D.
Wright on all eight counts in his perjury and voter fraud trial.
The Inglewood Democrat was indicted by a Los Angeles County grand
jury in September 2010. He had pleaded not guilty and said he
thought he had been following the law in 2007 when he took steps to
run for the seat he has held since late 2008.
In a trial that began Jan. 8, prosecutors accused Wright of faking a
move to a rental property he owned in Inglewood so he could run in
what was then the 25th Senate District.
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Posted in residency <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=38>
January Issue of NCSL's The Canvass Now Available
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58394>
Posted on January 28, 2014 11:40 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58394>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.
<http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-canvass-january-2014.aspx?utm_source=Canvass&utm_campaign=71d3debd8e-Canvass_April_20134_25_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c27fe8f428-71d3debd8e-111828865>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
"GOP wants to change Missouri constitution for voter ID"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58392>
Posted on January 28, 2014 11:40 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58392>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
MSNBC reports <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gop-takes-another-swing-voter-id>.
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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>
"Is Online Registration Reaching a Tipping Point?"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58388>
Posted on January 28, 2014 7:53 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58388>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
A ChapinBlog.
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2014/01/is_online_registration_reachin.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HHHElections+%28The+Election+Aacdemy%29>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
voter registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>, voting
technology <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>
"Secret Court Ruling Could Undermine Wisconsin Campaign Finance Law"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58386>
Posted on January 28, 2014 7:51 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58386>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brendan Fischer blogs
<http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/01/12371/undermine-wisconsin-elections>.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"Husted: Come up with compromise on election location"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58384>
Posted on January 28, 2014 7:50 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58384>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The latest
<http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201401220522/NEWS010602/301220167>
from Cincy.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
"Democrat wins Virginia Senate recount, giving Gov. Terry
McAuliffe's agenda a crucial boost"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58382>
Posted on January 27, 2014 7:43 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58382>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/monday-recount-will-decide-control-of-the-va-senate--and-fate-of-mcauliffe-agenda/2014/01/27/e93a2846-8756-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html>:
"Democrats prepared to seize control of the Virginia Senate on Monday
after winning a recount by just 11 votes in a razor-thin special
election, giving Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's first-year agenda a
crucial boost."
That's a pretty thin razor.
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Posted in recounts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>
PA Still Not Decided on Appeal of Voter ID Ruling
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58380>
Posted on January 27, 2014 7:30 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58380>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
But the state
<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140128_Corbett_wants_judge_to_reconsider_voter_ID_ruling.html>
files motion for reconsideration in the trial court.
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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>
--
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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