[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/27/14
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Tue May 27 07:34:31 PDT 2014
"RNC files lawsuit seeking to raise unlimited sums"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61791>
Posted on May 27, 2014 7:33 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61791>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Matea Gold reports
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/05/23/rnc-files-lawsuit-seeking-to-raise-unlimited-sums/>
for WaPo. See also this Nick Confessore NYT report.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/24/us/politics/gop-sues-in-effort-to-raise-unlimited-cash-from-individuals.html>
Here's my early take <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61289> on the suit.
More to come.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, Supreme Court
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
"Rise of the Showboat Donor" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61789>
Posted on May 27, 2014 7:24 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61789>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ken Vogel reports
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/anthony-scaramucci-mega-donors-107091.html>
for Politico.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"Federal Judge Who Halted Walker Dark Money Criminal Probe Attended
Koch-Backed Judicial Junkets" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61787>
Posted on May 27, 2014 7:22 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61787>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brendan Fischer
<http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/05/12489/federal-judge-who-halted-walker-dark-money-criminal-probe-attends-koch-judicial>:
"The federal judge who ordered a halt to Wisconsin's "John Doe" criminal
investigation into spending during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections
has regularly attended all-expenses paid "judicial junkets" funded by
the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation, and other ideological and corporate interests."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Bob Bauer Defends RNC Case to Revive Soft Money
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61784>
Posted on May 27, 2014 7:21 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61784>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
At least that's my read of this post.
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2014/05/political-parties-quest-super-pac-status/>
Bob may disagree.
Bob has now returned 360 degrees to where he was before he started
working for President Obama.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"The Political Perits of Anonymous Campaign Cash"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61782>
Posted on May 27, 2014 7:18 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61782>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brian Levy has written this oped
<http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/05/the_political_perils_of_anonymous_cash_opinion.html>in
the Newark Star-Ledger.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
How a Two-Year-Old Investigation into Non-Citizen Voter Registration
in Florida Became News <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61780>
Posted on May 27, 2014 7:15 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61780>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Apprently ver the weekend (judged by my inbox and twitter feed),
Instapundit linked to a TownHall report
<http://linkis.com/townhall.com/tipshee/KhhOM>from March 2014, "Fraud:
Local NBC Investigation Discovers Dozens of Illegal Voters in Florida."
Among other things, the Town Hall report says "Which brings us to a
report that aired earlier this month on NBC's local affiliate in Ft.
Myers, Florida. WBBH-TV reporter Andy Pierrotti managed to track down
dozens <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjmKBfrycQ> of local residents
who were (a) both non-US citizens and (b) registered to vote in the
swing state. Many of them had illegally voted in recent elections.
But the report appeared on NBC 2 in Feb 2012
<http://www.nbc-2.com/story/16662854/2012/02/02/nbc2-investigates-voter-fraud>,
not March 2014. So this is not news at all. The NBC 2 site hasthese
documents <http://www.nbc-2.com/category/242056/voter-fraud>(and links
to further reports) regarding the follow up on its investigation into
non-citizens registered and voting.
Despite the fact that this is "old news," is non-citizen voting a cause
for concern? Unlike impersonation fraud, which almost never happens,
non-citizen voting does happen. It is why I've called in the New York
Times
<http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/a-dtente-before-the-election/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0>
for voter rolls to be cleaned up to remove non-citizens (but not in
purges just before an election, when the risk of disenfranchising
eligible voters is too high). Non-citizen registration happens much more
than non-citizen voting, and often it is the result of the registrant
not understanding she is ineligible to register. But it is enough of a
problem that steps should be taken to clean up the voting rolls.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
Just How Liberal is Henry Waxman's District?
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61778>
Posted on May 25, 2014 12:10 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61778>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The libertarian
<http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-waxman-forum-20140525-story.html>
in the race supports campaign spending limits and public financing.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
"Someone Just Spent $1.5 Million on a GOP Senate Candidate. We'll
Probably Never Know Who" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61776>
Posted on May 24, 2014 6:02 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61776>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Mother Jones reports.
<http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/no-one-knows-who-is-behind-arkansas-ad-buy>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
Arkansas Voter ID Law is Unconstitutional, Again
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61774>
Posted on May 24, 2014 3:07 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61774>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
AP reports
<http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/c119d9dff3cb4e9bb13caedaaa7a0120/AR--Voter-ID-Arkansas>
(via BAN
<http://www.ballot-access.org/2014/05/arkansas-government-photo-id-law-again-held-unconstitutional/>).
It looks like at this point the issue will be procedurally ready to be
decided by the state Supreme 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>
"Good News in the Proxy Wars; The left's political disclosure
campaign is falling flat." <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61772>
Posted on May 24, 2014 3:05 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61772>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WSJ
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303980004579576281696502364?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303980004579576281696502364.html>
editorial: "It's good to see that investors are figuring out that the
real risk to business is from Mr. Freed's campaign for disclosure, not
from lobbying."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Very Disturbing: Gay Rights Groups Seek Emails of Law Professor Doug
Laycock <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61768>
Posted on May 23, 2014 9:10 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61768>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The story is here
<http://www.c-ville.com/sullivans-law-professor-husband-criticized-by-gay-rights-group/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#.U4AZhy9L6N_>
(via Orin Kerr) <https://twitter.com/OrinKerr/status/470050088338092032>.
Through the activist group Virginia Student Power Network, GetEQUAL
found two UVA students willing to take up the cause of calling out
Laycock: rising fourth-year Greg Lewis and now-alum Stephanie
Montenegro. Last week, the pair sent an open letter to Laycock
asking him to consider the "real-world consequences that [his] work
is having." They also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request
seeking e-mails between Laycock and various right-wing and religious
liberty groups.
I know something <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60748> about these
requests, and at this point I think it worth remembering what Indiana
Professor Eric Rasmussen <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60687> said: we
should be equally outraged at these threats to academic freedom when
they come from the left or the right.
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Posted in academic freedom <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=92>
"Intertemporal Statutory Interpretation and the Evolution of
Legislative Drafting" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61765>
Posted on May 23, 2014 8:39 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61765>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jarrod Shobe has posted this draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2437646>on SSRN
(/Columbia Law Review/). Here is the abstract:
All theories of statutory interpretation rely on an idea of how
Congress operates. A commonly held supposition among scholars is
that the procedures used in the creation of legislation are
unsophisticated and almost anarchic. This supposition exists because
scholars generally give little consideration to the underlying
actors and their evolving roles in the drafting process. This
Article deconstructs the many steps of, and actors involved in, the
statutory-drafting process. It reveals an evolving process that is
the opposite of what scholars generally believe: While Congress
historically did not have the capacity or resources to draft
statutes well, it has evolved through the last forty years to arrive
at a point where modern statutes are carefully researched by
professional researchers and clearly drafted by nonpartisan
professional legislative drafters, with the entire process overseen
by hundreds of specialized committee staff and countless lobbyists.
This Article uses this better understanding of the evolution of
Congress's institutional competence to explain how the rise of
judicial textualism over the last few decades should be viewed at
least partially as a response to Congress's improved drafting
process. And not only do these practical findings provide a
descriptive account of judicial behavior, they also provide a basis
from which to make normative judgments about how to undertake
statutory interpretation based on the era in which a statute was
drafted, a method that this Article terms "intertemporal statutory
interpretation." This Article demonstrates how consideration of the
evolution of the real-world legislative process can allow for more
fully developed theories of statutory interpretation.
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Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, statutory interpretation
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=21>
"New Jersey: Vineland mayoral recall gets more time due to big
judicial ruling " <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61763>
Posted on May 23, 2014 6:49 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61763>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Recall Elections Blog
<http://recallelections.blogspot.com/2014/05/new-jersey-vineland-mayoral-recall-gets.html>:
"Big news out
<http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2014/05/vineland_recall_petition_deadline_extended_court_decides.html>
of New Jersey that should have an impact beyond recalls...."
Similar issue to the Conyers decision
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61755>today.
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Posted in petition signature gathering
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=39>, recall elections
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=11>
Caperton Denouement <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61761>
Posted on May 23, 2014 6:46 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61761>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WSJ:
<http://stream.wsj.com/story/campaign-2012-continuous-coverage/SS-2-9156/SS-2-539676/>
A jury awarded a former coal company $4 million on Friday after
finding that Massey Energy Co. drove it out of business through an
elaborate scheme 16 years ago, closing a chapter in a long-running
legal battle that embroiled West Virginia's judiciary and reached
the U.S. Supreme Court.
The verdict fell far short of the $90 million in compensatory
damages sought by plaintiffs who have been fighting the case against
Massey since 1998.
Hugh Caperton first sued Massey that year, alleging that then-Chief
Executive Don Blankenship directed company officials to illegally
break a coal-supply contract and take other action that forced Mr.
Caperton's company, Harman Mining Corp., to declare bankruptcy.
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Posted in judicial elections <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>
Breaking: Federal Court Order Rep. Conyers Name on Ballot
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61755>
Posted on May 23, 2014 1:44 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61755>by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
A federal court
<http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140523/POLITICS03/305230081/Federal-judge-orders-Conyers-back-Aug-5-ballot>hasordered
<http://download.gannett.edgesuite.net/detnews/2014/pdf/0523conyersruling.pdf>
Rep. Conyers name to be put on the ballot.
I had said
<http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140521/POLITICS03/305210027/> that
Conyers had a very strong argument that the law limiting petition
circulators to residents was likely unconstitutional. The court agreed
today, holding that the case was indistinguishable from earlier Sixth
Circuit precedent, binding on the trial court, Nader v. Blackwell.
<http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12127479635125916071&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr>The
arguments that the state made to try to distinguish the /Nader/ case
seemed quite weak to me.
The big question in my mind was one of the doctrine of /laches/: did
Conyers wait too long to raise this question? The trial court rejected
the laches argument. Laches requires a showing of unreasonable delay in
filing suit and prejudice. The judge found neither, noting that there
was evidence the circulators who were not residents acted in good
faith. (I've been a strong proponent of greater use of laches
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27985> in election cases to prevent
candidates from having an "option" to challenge rules only if they
disadvantage them.)
We will now see if the State of Michigan takes this on expedited review
to the Sixth Circuit, or leaves it where it is. Time is short before the
printing of ballots.
UPDATE
<http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140523/POLITICS03/305230081/Federal-judge-orders-Conyers-back-Aug-5-ballot>:
The Attorney General's Office didn't indicate whether it would appeal.
"We are reviewing the decision in consultation with our client, the
Secretary of State," said spokeswoman Joy Yearout.
A decision on a possible appeal is not expected until next week.
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
--
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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