[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/22/15

Tue Jul 21 21:43:07 PDT 2015

    “Scott Walker’s Wisconsin and the End of Campaign-Finance Law”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74489>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 9:21 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74489>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lincoln Caplan 
writes<http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/scott-walkers-wisconsin-and-the-end-of-campaign-finance-law>for 
The New Yorker.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,chicanery 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

    Analysis: 7th Circuit Unanimously Rejects Some Charges Against IL
    Gov. Blagojevich <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74479>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 12:29 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74479>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find the 23-page unanimous decision written by Judge 
Easterbrookat this link. 
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/blago.7th.pdf>

Given how short this opinion is, it is not clear why there was sucha 
long delay <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73098>in issuing this opinion.

Most of the charge were upheld, but the court found instructional error 
as to some of charges, particularly those related to a deal for 
political, as opposed to personal, deals for political favors.

    What we have said so far requires the reversal of the convictions on
    Counts 5, 6, 21, 22, and 23, though the prosecutor is free to try
    again without reliance on Blagojevich’s quest for a position in the
    Cabinet. (The evidence that Blagojevich sought money in exchange for
    appointing Valerie Jarrett to the Senate is sufficient to convict,
    so there is no double‑jeopardy obstacle to retrial. See Burks v.
    United States, 437 U.S. 1 (1978).) Because many other convictions
    remain and the district judge imposed concurrent sentences, the
    prosecutor may think retrial unnecessary—but the judge may have
    considered the sought‑after Cabinet appointment in determining the
    length of the sentence, so we remand for re-sentencing across the board.

He remains in jail pending retrial:

    The convictions on Counts 5, 6, 21, 22, and 23 are vacated; the
    remaining convictions are affirmed. The sentence is vacated, and the
    case is remanded for retrial on the vacated counts. Circuit Rule 36
    will not apply. If the prosecutor elects to drop these charges, then
    the district court should proceed directly to resentencing. Because
    we have affirmed the convictions on most counts and concluded that
    the advisory sentencing range lies above 168 months, Blagojevich is
    not entitled to be released pending these further proceedings.

The legal issue on which the 7th Circuit reversed is a fascinating one, 
and it could provide the basis for Supreme Court review. However the 
federal government may not bother given that they won much of the case.

[This post has been updated.]

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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,chicanery 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

    “VoteCal database makes debut in Sacramento, Orange counties”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74477>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 11:28 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74477>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Sacramento Bee reports 
<http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article27975853.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter>.

MORE 
<http://editions.lib.umn.edu/electionacademy/2015/07/21/california-begins-rollout-of-votecal-long-awaited-statewide-database/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HHHElections+%28The+Election+Academy%29>from 
Doug Chapin.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,voting technology 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

    “Voter ID, registration and early voting laws vary widely across
    America; Complexity among states under scrutiny as NC election law
    trial progresses” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74475>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 11:22 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74475>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Winston-Salem Journal reports. 
<http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/voter-id-registration-and-early-voting-laws-vary-widely-across/article_a9252ca1-0861-5a53-9094-7eccefa1d2b5.html>

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    “Expert: Voters would have faced longer lines in ’12 had N.C.’s
    election law been in place” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74473>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 11:11 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74473>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The 
latest<http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/expert-voters-would-have-faced-longer-lines-in-had-n/article_3cc91d80-2fcd-11e5-90a6-fbf399e5c465.html>from 
the NC voting trial.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    “Black votes matter: the North Carolina electors who say new law is
    unfair” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74471>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 10:14 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74471>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Guardian 
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/19/black-votes-matter-north-carolina-voting-law>on 
the NC voting trial.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    “The Only Realistic Way to Fix Campaign Finance”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74469>

Posted onJuly 21, 2015 9:34 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74469>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Larry Lessig NYT oped 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/opinion/the-only-realistic-way-to-fix-campaign-finance.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region>:

    The solution proposed by some, notably Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Graham and
    Mr. Sanders, is amending the Constitution.

    It sounds appealing, but anyone who’s serious about reform should
    not buy it. For a presidential candidate, constitutional reform is
    fake reform. And no candidate who talks exclusively about amending
    the Constitution can be considered a credible reformer.

    This is not because we don’t need constitutional reform. Of course
    we do. No sane constitutional designer would have picked the mix of
    restrictions and rights that our Constitution has been read to
    embrace. And with due respect to the Supreme Court, neither did our
    framers. Amendments will be essential to restoring this democracy,
    just as a healthy diet is essential to the recovery of a patient who
    has suffered a heart attack.

    Nor is this because a constitutional amendment is impossible. No
    doubt it is ridiculously difficult to amend our Constitution. The
    veto of one house in just 13 states — representing as little as 5
    percent of the American public — could block an amendment. But in
    the last hundred years we’ve added 10 amendments to our
    Constitution, with an average ratification time (excepting the most
    recent, which took 202 years) of less than 16 months. We’ve done it
    before; we can do it again.

    Nor does this mean that the many reform organizations pushing for a
    constitutional amendment are not themselves true reformers. Of
    course they are, and their work is the most important force building
    the essential political movement that real reform will require.

    But even if we could pass amendment to reverse Citizens United soon
    (and not since the Civil War has an amendment been adopted with
    support from just one party), it would not solve the problem of
    money’s influence in American politics.

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

-- 
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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