[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/19/15

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Jan 19 10:22:08 PST 2015


    “Scalia Lands at Top of Sarcasm Index of Justices. Shocking.”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69754>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:17 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69754>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

    Adam Liptak’slatest Sidebar column
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/us/scalia-lands-at-top-of-sarcasm-index-of-justices-shocking.html?smid=tw-share>for
    the NYT takes up a new study of mine, just posted on SSRN,The Most
    Sarcastic Justice
    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2550923>. Adam’s
    piece begins:

    JusticeAntonin Scalia
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/antonin_scalia/index.html?inline=nyt-per>has
    a sharp tongue and a cutting writing style. His signature mode is
    sarcasm.

    It wason display last week
    <http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/13-502_d1pf.pdf>when
    a lawyer made the mistake of saying that Justice Scalia was right —
    but only “in a literal sense.”

    The justice pounced. “Oh, I see,” he said. “What sense are we
    talking here? Poetic?”

    There was laughter in the courtroom, and the lawyer was knocked off
    his stride.

    The moment was routine. And there is little question that Justice
    Scalia is the most sarcastic member of theSupreme Court
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org>.

    But it is one thing to make that assertion. It is another to
    quantify it.

    For that, you would need a Sarcasm Index.

    Luckily, we live in an empirical age.Richard L. Hasen
    <http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/>, a law professor
    and political scientist at the University of California, Irvine, has
    developedthe necessary tools.
    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2550923>

    Justice Scalia registered 2.78 on Professor Hasen’s index, dwarfing
    the showings of every justice he has served with. Justice Samuel A.
    Alito Jr. came in a very distant second, at 0.43. Chief JusticeJohn
    G. Roberts Jr.
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/john_g_jr_roberts/index.html?inline=nyt-per>and
    Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not even register.

Here is a full graphic representation of the Sarcasm Index:

sarcasm-index 
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/sarcasm-index1.png>

And here is the abstract for my piece:

    Justice Scalia is the most sarcastic Justice on the Supreme Court.
    He has been for at least the last thirty years, and there is good
    reason to believe no other Justice in history has come close to his
    level of sarcasm. Now your first reaction to this claim, if you are
    a (sarcastic) Supreme Court aficionado, is probably: “Well, duh!”
    And your second reaction is likely: “Oh really? Well how can you
    prove that?”

    In this short essay, I do three things. First, I present empirical
    evidence showing that Justice Scalia’s opinions are magnitudes of
    order more likely to be described in law journals as sarcastic
    compared to any other Justice’s opinions. The numbers are quite
    remarkable, and do not vary whether Justice Scalia is compared to
    liberal or other conservative Justices who have served with him on
    the Court since his 1986 confirmation. Second, I present some
    illustrative examples of Justice Scalia’s sarcasm from a list of 75
    sarcastic opinions from 1986-2013. His ability (and willingness) to
    engage in nastiness, particularly directed at other Justices’
    opinions, is unparalleled. Third, I opine that Justice Scalia’s
    sarcasm is a mixed blessing. On the one hand sarcasm makes his
    opinions punchy and interesting, clarifying where he stands in a
    case and why and gaining attention for his ideas. On the other hand,
    such heavy use of sarcasm can demean the Court, and it arguably
    demonstrates Justice Scalia’s lack of respect for the legal opinions
    of his colleagues. In the end, his sarcasm may be his most enduring
    legacy.

Mediaite isunimpressed. 
<http://www.mediaite.com/online/study-ranks-antonin-scalia-as-most-sarcastic-scotus-justice/>

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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “Honor King’s Legacy By Protecting Voting Rights”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69752>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:11 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69752>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ari Berman 
<http://www.thenation.com/blog/195281/honor-kings-legacy-protecting-voting-rights>:

    The film/Selma
    <http://www.thenation.com/blog/194473/what-selma-gets-right-and-wrong-about-civil-rights-history>/movingly
    chronicles Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight to win the Voting Rights
    Act (VRA). It ends with King speaking triumphantly on the steps of
    the Alabama capitol, after marching from Selma to Montgomery. Five
    months later, Congress passed the VRA, the most important
    civil-rights law of the twentieth century.

    If only that story had a happy ending today./Selma/has been released
    at a time when voting rights are facing themost sustained attack
    <http://www.thenation.com/blog/180389/fifty-years-after-freedom-summer-voting-rights-act-needed-more-ever>since
    1965. The Supreme Court gutted the centerpiece of the VRA in/Shelby
    County v. Holder
    <http://www.thenation.com/blog/174973/what-supreme-court-doesnt-understand-about-voting-rights-act>/in
    June 2013. That followed a period from 2011 to 2012 when 180 new
    voting restrictions were introduced in 41 states, and 22 states made
    it harder to vote.

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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>,Voting 
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>,VRAA 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>


    “The Law of Democracy at a Crossroads: Reflecting on Fifty Years of
    Voting Rights and the Judicial Regulation of the Political Thicket”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69749>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:09 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69749>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I amlooking 
forward<http://law.fsu.edu/events/votingrightssymposium_2015.html>to 
participating in this event at FSU (where I will be presenting myPurcell 
Principle paper 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2545676>):

    Friday, March 27 – Saturday, March 28, 2015

          2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of
    1965, presenting a perfect opportunity to reflect on the changes
    that have occurred since the Supreme Court entered the “political
    thicket” over five decades ago. Since the 1960s, the Court has
    changed the landscape and the regulation of our system of politics,
    and its decisions continue to significantly impact this area. In
    2013, the Court decided two major election law cases./Shelby County
    v. Holder/invalidated section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act and
    raised important questions about the future of a super statute that
    had eliminated much of the racial discrimination in our political
    system./Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council/reaffirmed the broad scope
    of congressional authority over elections. Last term, the Court
    decided an important campaign finance case,/McCutcheon v. FEC/,
    which struck down aggregate contribution limits and opened the door
    for more campaign finance deregulation. This symposium will allow
    leading legal scholars and political scientists to gather at a
    critical juncture in election law to debate and shape the future of
    the field.

You can see the schedule of eventshere 
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/FSU-Symposium-Schedule.docx>.

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    Lyle Denniston Previews Williams-Yulee for SCOTUSBlog
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69747>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:06 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69747>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here 
<http://www.scotusblog.com/2015/01/argument-preview-judges-politics-and-money/>.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,judicial elections 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>


    More Bauer on Williams-Yulee <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69745>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:03 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69745>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here. 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2015/01/intuition-polling-case-prohibiting-personal-fundraising-judicial-candidates/>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,judicial elections 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>


    “Convenience Voting: the End of Election Day?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69743>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:02 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69743>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Graeme Orr has postedthis draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2523770>on SSRN 
(forthcoming, /Alternative Law Journal/).  Here is the abstract:

    When and where we vote is a central element of the ritual of
    electoral democracy. In a trend across western democracies, there
    has been a significant shift towards ‘convenience’ voting. This
    article explores the history, rationale and law around postal and
    pre-poll voting (the dominant forms of convenience voting) and
    cautions against this trend deconstructing the communal experience
    of election day.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,voting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>


    “Dueling Canons” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69741>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2015 10:00 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69741>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Anita Krishnakumar has postedthis draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2549248>on SSRN. 
  Here is the abstract:

    This Article offers the first targeted study of the Supreme Court’s
    use of the canons and other tools of statutory interpretation in a
    “dueling” manner — i.e., to support opposing outcomes in both the
    majority and dissenting opinions in the same case. Taking its
    inspiration from Karl Llewellyn’s celebrated list of canons and
    counter-canons, the Article seeks to examine how often and in what
    ways the members of the Roberts Court counter each other’s
    references to particular interpretive tools when disagreeing about
    the proper reading of a statute.

    Many of the Article’s findings are unexpected and undermine the
    assumptions made by some of the most prominent theories of statutory
    interpretation. Textualists, for example, long have urged the
    rejection of interpretive tools such as legislative history,
    statutory purpose, and congressional intent on the ground that such
    tools are indeterminate and can be manipulated to support almost any
    statutory construction favored by the judge. Moreover, textualists
    have advocated the use of other interpretive tools — e.g., statutory
    text / the plain meaning rule, the whole act rule, language canons,
    other statutes — on the theory that these tools are neutral and will
    constrain judges to reach the correct or “best” reading of the
    statute. But the data from the Roberts Court’s dueling canon cases
    reveals that many of textualism’s most-favored interpretive tools
    are at least as susceptible to dueling use as the tools that
    textualists love to denigrate. The study shows, for example, that
    the justices duel extensively over the meaning of statutory text but
    duel at low, virtually identical, rates over legislative history,
    purpose, intent, dictionary references, the whole act rule and
    language canons.

    The study also reveals some unsurprising data. For example, the
    canons do not seem capable of constraining the judges to vote
    against ideology. And non-canon tools of analysis, including
    precedent and practical consequences reasoning, lead to higher rates
    of dueling than do most traditional canons or tools of statutory
    interpretation. After reporting the data, this Article examines the
    theoretical implications of the justices’ relatively infrequent,
    though ideologically-slanted, dueling canon use.

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Posted instatutory interpretation 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=21>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “Changes afoot to tighten campaign finance reporting laws in
    Montana” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69737>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 7:40 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69737>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Missoulian reports 
<http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_eaa0dc9d-cb23-56b1-b386-97444d1bf5e9.html>.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “Supreme Court to Review Bans on Solicitations in Judge Races”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69735>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 6:28 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69735>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Liptak NYT preview 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/us/politics/supreme-court-to-review-bans-on-solicitations-in-judge-races.html?ref=politics>of 
Williams-Yulee.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,judicial elections 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    Rep. Conyers on the VRA and VRAA <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69733>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 6:00 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69733>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo profile: 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-conyers-who-first-proposed-an-mlk-holiday-marks-50-years-in-congress/2015/01/18/998d4ba2-9d08-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html>

    Conyers and House Democrats plan to spend this year drawing
    attention to ongoing concerns with voting rights after the Supreme
    Court invalidated parts of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. The court
    struck down sections of the law dealing with the special scrutiny
    imposed on states with a history of discrimination, compelling
    Congress to come up with a new formula based on current data to
    determine which states should be subject to the law.

    House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said last
    week that he sees no need to revamp the law — yet another sign of
    disagreement between Republicans and Democrats.

    “We have not seen a process forward that is necessary to protect
    people because we think the Voting Rights Act is providing
    substantial protection in this area right now,” Goodlatte said at a
    breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

    Conyers is undeterred.

    “The Supreme Court kind of threw us a curveball on that, but look,
    that’s happened before,” he said. The court’s decision makes voting
    rights “a new, big issue,” he said. But, he said, people should be
    mindful that things have been much worse.

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>,VRAA 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>


    Maureen Dowd NYT Column on “Selma” and LBJ
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69731>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 4:26 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69731>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here. 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/opinion/sunday/not-just-a-movie.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share>

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


    “A Question on the Question of Gay Marriage”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69729>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 4:18 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69729>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bob Barnes WaPo analysis 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/a-question-on-the-question-of-gay-marriage/2015/01/18/7d845826-9f27-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html>on 
the questions presented in the SCOTUS same sex marriage cases.

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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “Arizona and Anti-Reform” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69727>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 1:29 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69727>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Nick Stephanopoulos has postedthis draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2551556>on SSRN 
(forthcoming, University of Chicago Legal Forum).  Here is the abstract:

    The Supreme Court is on the cusp of rejecting one of the best ideas
    for reforming American elections: independent commissions for
    congressional redistricting. According to the plaintiffs in a
    pending case, a commission is not “the Legislature” of a state. And
    under the Elections Clause, it is only “the Legislature” that may
    set congressional district boundaries.

    There are good reasons, grounded in text and precedent, for the
    Court to rebuff this challenge. And these reasons are being aired
    effectively in the case’s briefing. In this symposium contribution,
    then, I develop three other kinds of arguments for redistricting
    commissions. Together, they illuminate the high theoretical,
    empirical, and policy stakes of this debate.

    First, commissions are supported by the political process theory
    that underlies many Court decisions. Process theory contends that
    judicial intervention is most justified when the political process
    has broken down in some way. Gerrymandering, of course, is a
    quintessential case of democratic breakdown. The Court itself thus
    could (and should) begin policing gerrymanders. And the Court should
    welcome the transfer of redistricting authority from the elected
    branches to commissions. Then the risk of breakdown declines without
    the Court even needing to enter this particular thicket.

    Second, commission usage leads to demonstrable improvements in key
    democratic values. The existing literature links commissions to
    greater partisan fairness, higher competitiveness, and better
    representation. And in a rigorous new study, spanning federal and
    state elections over the last forty years, I find that commissions,
    courts, and divided governments all increase partisan fairness
    relative to unified governments. At the federal level, in
    particular, commissions increase partisan fairness by up to fifty
    percent.

    And third, the implications of the plaintiffs’ position are more
    sweeping than even they may realize. If only “the Legislature” may
    draw congressional district lines, then governors should not be able
    to veto plans, nor should state courts be able to assess their
    legality. And beyond redistricting, intrusions into any other aspect
    of federal elections by governors, courts, agencies, or voters
    should be invalid as well. In short, a victory for the plaintiffs
    could amount to an unnecessary election law revolution.

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Posted inElections Clause 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=70>,redistricting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “The GOP’s biggest tech challenge for 2016 is closing the
    small-donor gap” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69721>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 1:27 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69721>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Yahoo News reports 
<http://news.yahoo.com/the-gop-s-biggest-tech-challenge-for-2016-is-closing-the-small-donor-gap-225855092.html>.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “Most campaign cash to N.J. House members came from out-of-state
    donors” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69724>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 11:48 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69724>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jonathan Salant reports 
<http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/nj_lawmakers_look_beyond_the_garden_states_borders_to_fund_their_congressional_campaigns.html>.

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    More on the #SCOTUS Questions Presented in Same Sex Marriage Case
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69722>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2015 8:52 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69722>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steve Sanders 
<http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/is-a-right-to-remain-married-compromise-taking-shape-at-the-supreme-court>

Ilya Shapiro 
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyashapiro/2015/01/17/did-supreme-court-telegraph-its-ultimate-ruling-on-gay-marriage/>

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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “Taking Up Gay Marriage, but on Their Own Terms”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69719>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2015 11:49 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69719>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Adam 
Liptak<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/us/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=0>for 
the NYT:

    WASHINGTON — The first page of a petition seekingSupreme Court
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org>review
    is the most important. It sets out the “question presented,” the one
    the court will answer if it takes the case.

    The justices do not ordinarily tinker with the wording of those
    questions. But on Friday something unusual happened: In agreeing to
    hear foursame-sex marriage
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>cases,
    the courtframed for itself
    <http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/011615zr_f2q3.pdf>the issues
    it would address.

    Lawyers and scholars scrutinized the court’s order with the anxious
    intensity of hypochondriacs attending their symptoms. Some saw an
    attempt by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to elicit a ruling that
    would stop short of establishing a nationwide constitutional right
    to same-sex marriage.

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-- 
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
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http://electionlawblog.org

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