[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/18/15

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Jun 17 20:59:34 PDT 2015


    “The merits of universal voter registration”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73580>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 3:43 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73580>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Conor Friedersdorf LAT oped. 
<http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0617-friedersdorf-universal-registration-20150617-story.html>

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


    Murphy: Super PAC Donors are “Killers;” Cannot Coordinate “Any More”
    with Jeb! But “Well-Informed” as of Last Week
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73575>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 3:14 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73575>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Mike Murphy 
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/we-crashed-jeb-bushs-super-pacs-donor-call-and-heres-what-th#.wlBb1qlQ0>on 
the crashed Right to Rise super pac conference call:

    “So I can tell you, we are excited,” Murphy continued. “And, just
    keep doing what you’re doing. And I keep coming back to this pitch,
    because, like any ad guy, I believe in repetition: Any extra buck
    you can give before June 30 is a weapon for us, in that report when
    we give some heart attacks to people in July. It’ll effect some of
    their decisions, it’ll bum out their donors, and it’ll hurt their
    money, which cuts off their oxygen, and frankly we want to choke ‘em
    all out. So, um, you’re killers — I’m gonna turn you guys loose to
    that mission.”…

    Murphy noted that he “can’t coordinate any more” with the campaign,
    but said he was “well-informed as of a week ago.”

    Murphy said Bush’s message would focus on three things: how to “make
    this country an economic superpower again…” that Bush wants “blow up
    the machine in Washington,” and “the world is more chaotic than
    ever, we need an experienced president, who’s had the life training
    to make our country safer, in a world that’s become more unstable.”

There is so much wrong with this it is hard to know where to begin. 
Watch for the watchdogs’ complaints to be amended with this information.

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


    “Conservatives Are Upset With Nevada Republicans For Failing To Pass
    A Voter ID Bill” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73573>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 3:11 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73573>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPo reports. 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/nevada-voter-id_n_7604980.html>

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


    “We Crashed Jeb Bush’s Super PAC’s Donor Call, And Here’s What They
    Said” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73571>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 3:09 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73571>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

BuzzFeed. 
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/we-crashed-jeb-bushs-super-pacs-donor-call-and-heres-what-th#.teBemgda6>

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


    A Key Thing to Watch if Government Loses at SCOTUS in King v.
    Burwell <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73568>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 3:00 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73568>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

As the Supreme Court gets ready to decide this key Obamacare case, watch 
if Chief Justice Roberts or Justice Kennedy (f they make up a majority 
holding subsidies cannot apply to those in the federal exchange) engage 
in the total fiction that Congress can easily fix the Act. It is not 
going to happen, because congressional overrides of Supreme Court 
statutory decisions have fallen off a cliff, especially when it comes to 
contentious partisan issues (and fewer issues are more contentious these 
days than Obamacare). Pretending Congress will fix it is a Court that is 
willfully blind to modern political realities. (And on why the Court 
should take those realities into account in interpreting the Act, 
seethis piece at Slate 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/07/d_c_circuit_and_4th_circuit_obamacare_rulings_the_perils_of_following_scalia.html>.)

In an LA Times oped 
<http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-hasen-roberts-supreme-court-obamacare-20141113-story.html> on 
the case back in October, I wrote the following:

    One argument [Chief Justice Roberts] might make in defense of that
    position is that Congress has the ability to go back and fix any
    unclear language through a revised statute.

    Roberts telegraphed his willingness to take such an approach in the
    2013Shelby County v
    <http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/shelby-county-v-holder/>s.
    Holder
    <http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/shelby-county-v-holder/>case,
    which struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The
    provision the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional defined which
    states had to get federal approval (or pre-clearance) before making
    changes to their voting laws. Roberts’ opinion for the majority
    ordered the provision struck because it was based on old data.
    Congress, he reasoned, could simply update the formula to respond to
    “current conditions” if it wished to.

    When Roberts wrote his Shelby County opinion,he knew full well
    <http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/04/symposium-does-the-chief-justice-not-understand-politics-or-does-he-understand-it-all-too-well/>that
    Congress would not update the coverage formula. Congress is
    polarized, and the issue was a political hot potato. Indeed, in the
    period since the opinion, a bill introduced to update the Voting
    Rights Acthas gone nowhere
    <http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/judiciary-chairman-in-no-rush-to-move-on-voting-rights-act-r>.
    It is supported by Democrats and a sole Republican, Jim
    Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).

    Although Congress used to come forward on a bipartisan basis to
    change laws in response to Supreme Court rulings, the number of such
    overrides hasfallen to a trickle
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/us/politics/supreme-court-gains-power-from-paralysis-of-congress.html>.
    From 1975 to 1990, Congress overrode an average of 12 Supreme Court
    decisions in each two-year congressional cycle. In the last decade,
    thatnumber has fallen
    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2130190>to 2.7
    every two years, and there have been no significant overrides during
    the Obama presidency since Republicans took over the House of
    Representatives. During the last two years, perhaps owing to the
    intensity of the current political polarization and paralysis,
    overrides have been even rarer. I have identifiedjust one override
    <https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1603>,
    which pertained to a single Indian tribe’s right to certain tribal
    lands….

    In today’s fraught political environment, court-Congress dialogues
    are not generally possible.  But that might not stop Roberts from
    citing the possibility of such a dialogue  — especially if what he
    is really seeking is political cover and a chance to redeem his
    controversial earlier ruling on the Affordable Care Act with a new
    one that hobbles a key part of the law.

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


    “Bipartisan Group Urges Overhaul of General Election Debates”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73566>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 9:36 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73566>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/17/bipartisan-group-urges-overhaul-of-general-election-debates/?ref=politics>on 
an Annenbeg-led effort that seems quite sensible. Anita Dunn and Beth 
Myers co-chair, and Bauer and Ginsberg have a hand too.

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Posted incampaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


    “New Pew Infographic Demystifies Voting Information Project Data
    Flow” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73564>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 8:45 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73564>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A ChapinBlog. 
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2015/06/new_pew_infographic_demystifie.php>

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


    “President Obama and arguments about pending Supreme Court cases”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73562>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 8:42 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73562>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Josh Blackman finds 
<http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2015/06/president-obama-and-arguments-about-pending-supreme-court-cases/>President 
Obama much more likely to make comments about pending Supreme Court 
cases than his predecessors.

I’ve argued <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73414>that’s a good thing.

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


    Today’s Must Read: Mann and Dionne, “The Futility of Nostalgia and
    the Romanticism of the New Political Realists”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73560>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 8:24 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73560>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tom Mann and EJ Dionne <http://brook.gs/1GcuFf8>take on Rauch, Pildes, 
Cain, LaRaja and Persily.

This is a very important contribution to a key debate about the reform 
project. It is the best explanation of the ironic romanticism in the 
anti-reform camp.  I expect there will be further responses.

Here is a brief description of the project:

    In a spirited response to**Jonathan Rauch’s argument in favor of
    restoring machine politics*
    <http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports2/2015/05/political-realism-rauch>,*Thomas
    Mann and E.J. Dionne, Jr. assert that those who are being labeled
    “political realists” in fact have a romantic view of politics and
    are fundamentally mistaken in their diagnosis of what ails American
    democracy. Mann and Dionne contend that political realist proposed
    solutions would aggravate – rather than cure- American political
    dysfunction.

    Rauch and the realists have a core difficulty, Mann and Dionne
    write: Problems realists frequently ascribe to the political reform
    era after Watergate did not actually appear until the post-Watergate
    reforms began to break down. Rather, the American political system
    hit a crisis point later, most dramatically during President Obama’s
    time in office, when asymmetric polarization took hold, the
    Republican Party radicalized, and the intense competition between
    the parties for control of Congress and the White House drove the
    oppositional politics of today.

    Moreover, realists’ focus on procedural matters also overlooks the
    importance of many other social and political changes over the last
    several decades, including the growing role of television and other
    technologies in political campaigns, the emergence of much of the
    South as a one-party Republican political bastion, the impact of
    civil rights in realigning American politics, and growing
    polarization of public opinion along racial, ethnic and generational
    lines. These substantive changes matter far more than the question
    of whether it has become harder to make a back-room deal, these
    authors argue. Mann and Dionne also argue in calling for more
    centralized control of the legislative process, Rauch ignores the
    enormous centralization of power that has already taken place in
    Congress, particularly in the House, since the mid-1990s. Far from
    promoting concord, centralization has produced less of it.

    Mann and Dionne assert that:

  *

        Realists offer an idealized view of the American past — and of
        political machines in particular — that bears little
        relationship to how earlier American systems worked, and failed
        to work.

  *

        They utterly misunderstand the relationship of big money to
        politics.

  *

        The realists willfully ignore that political polarization in the
        United States is asymmetric.

  *

        There is no dispute over the fact that our two major political
        partiers have sorted themselves ideologically, but a true
        realism would come to terms with this development, not pretend
        that our parties can once again become philosophically polyglot
        coalitions.

  *

        Many of the realists, usually implicitly but sometimes
        explicitly, seem to long for a return to Gilded Age politics,
        precisely what the United States needs to move away from now.

  *

        Mann and Dionne reject the easy use of terms such as “democratic
        romanticism” and “populism” to describe what ails our political
        system, arguing that it suffers most of all from a “democratic
        deficit.”

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Posted incampaign finance 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Plutocrats United 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=104>,theory 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=41>


    Political Activity Law Goes on Hiatus
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73558>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 8:00 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73558>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This is too bad. 
<http://politicalactivitylaw.com/2015/06/16/a-message-to-the-friends-of-politicalactivitylaw-com/>I 
rely greatly on Eric Brown’s roundup of money in politics news from 
around the country.

Good luck Eric!

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Posted inelection law biz <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>


    “BPC Applauds Enactment of Texas Bill to Improve Voter List
    Accuracy” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73556>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 7:56 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73556>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release 
<http://bipartisanpolicy.org/press-release/bpc-applauds-enactment-of-texas-bill-to-improve-voter-list-accuracy/>:

    The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) applauds the enactment of new
    legislation in Texas which provides for the state to participate in
    multi-state voter registration data-sharing programs. Texas Governor
    Greg Abbott signed the bill, SB 795, into law Monday.

    “Voter registration data sharing can be key in improving the
    accuracy of a state’s voter rolls,” said John Fortier, director of
    BPC’s Democracy Project. “The ability to update and check voter
    registration lists against other states allows for the
    identification of duplicate registrations in multiple states.”

    Participation in multi-state voter registration data sharing was a
    key recommendation of the*Presidential Commission on Election
    Administration
    <http://link.bipartisanpolicy.org/c/1/?aId=11743737&requestId=b16815-23395bdb-85aa-494c-bf98-b02a3030fe88&rId=contact-38c3186b1d96e2118aa478e3b510fdbd-3052891083924582ad843127eec42f69&uId=1&ea=xpynat%3Dbet%3Dovcnegvfnacbyvpl&dUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbipartisanpolicy.org%2Fthe-presidential-commission-on-election-administration%2F%3F_cldee%3Da2NsYW5nQGJpcGFydGlzYW5wb2xpY3kub3Jn%26utm_source%3DClickDimensions%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DPress%2520Update%2520%257C%2520Democracy%2520Project>*(PCEA),
    whose work*BPC is continuing
    <http://link.bipartisanpolicy.org/c/1/?aId=11743737&requestId=b16815-23395bdb-85aa-494c-bf98-b02a3030fe88&rId=contact-38c3186b1d96e2118aa478e3b510fdbd-3052891083924582ad843127eec42f69&uId=2&ea=xpynat%3Dbet%3Dovcnegvfnacbyvpl&dUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbipartisanpolicy.org%2Fthe-presidential-commission-on-election-administration%2F%3F_cldee%3Da2NsYW5nQGJpcGFydGlzYW5wb2xpY3kub3Jn%26utm_source%3DClickDimensions%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DPress%2520Update%2520%257C%2520Democracy%2520Project>*,
    and BPC’s*Commission on Political Reform
    <http://link.bipartisanpolicy.org/c/1/?aId=11743737&requestId=b16815-23395bdb-85aa-494c-bf98-b02a3030fe88&rId=contact-38c3186b1d96e2118aa478e3b510fdbd-3052891083924582ad843127eec42f69&uId=3&ea=xpynat%3Dbet%3Dovcnegvfnacbyvpl&dUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbipartisanpolicy.org%2Fcpr%3F_cldee%3Da2NsYW5nQGJpcGFydGlzYW5wb2xpY3kub3Jn%26utm_source%3DClickDimensions%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DPress%2520Update%2520%257C%2520Democracy%2520Project>*.

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


    “Writing Campaign Finance Rules: Between ‘Thorough’ Regulation or
    None at All” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73554>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 7:54 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73554>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bauer’s latest. 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2015/06/writing-campaign-finance-rules-thorough-regulation-none/>

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    “Coalitions of the willing are latest lobbying trend”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73552>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 7:52 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73552>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/06/16/coalitions-of-the-willing-are-latest-lobbying-trend/>:

    A powerful coalition of labor and environmental groups known as the
    Coalition to Stop Fast Track was one of the most influential players
    in bringing down fast-track trade legislation last week.*
    *

    Its creation, and clout, highlight how many of Washington’s biggest
    legislative and regulatory battles are now fought — via coalitions
    of the like-minded, at least on issues of convenience. These
    coalitions also serve as lucrative vehicles for K Street to do business.

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Posted inlobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>


    “Shareholders press for information about political spending”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73550>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 7:50 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73550>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

David Nicklaus column. 
<http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/david-nicklaus/shareholders-press-for-information-about-political-spending/article_8fbcdc4a-c77b-5337-a89a-375ab64932b7.html>

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


    “Pillar of Law Institute Files Brief in Washington Free Speech Case”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73548>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 7:49 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73548>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release 
<https://www.pillaroflaw.org/index.php/blog/entry/pillar-of-law-institute-files-brief-in-washington-free-speech-case>:

    The Pillar of Law Institutefiled a friend-of-the-court brief with
    the United States Supreme Court
    <https://www.pillaroflaw.org/images/Article_PDFs/POLI-Utter_v._BIAW_brief-filed.pdf>today
    in the case/Utter v. Building Industry Association of
    Washington/(BIAW), urging the Court to hear the case and reinforce
    free speech protections against burdensome campaign finance laws.
    The brief argues that organizations such as BIAW should not be
    subject to comprehensive campaign finance disclosure laws since they
    do not have the major purpose of engaging in elections.

    “A group should not become a political committee, or PAC simply by
    engaging in some election-related speech,” said Benjamin Barr, lead
    attorney for Pillar of Law. “But in Washington State,
    election-related speech is burdened to the point of silence and it
    will stay that way unless the Supreme Court hears this case.”

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


    “Voting Rights Advocates Settle Long-Running Voter Registration
    Suit” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73546>

Posted onJune 17, 2015 7:45 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73546>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Press release 
<http://www.projectvote.org/newsreleases/1134-voting-rights-advocates-settle-long-running-voter-registration-suit.html>:

    Voting rights advocates and Massachusetts officials announced today
    that settlements have been reached in a three-year old federal
    lawsuit regarding the requirement to provide voter registration
    opportunities to low-income citizens who receive public assistance
    benefits.

    The lawsuit, filed in May 2012, was brought by New England United
    for Justice (NEU4J) and the New England Area Conference of the NAACP
    (NAACP-NEAC) against the Secretary of the Commonwealth (SOC), the
    Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), the Office of Medicaid
    (MassHealth), and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services
    (EOHHS). It alleged that the state’s public assistance agencies were
    failing to provide voter registration services that are mandated by
    the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA is the same law
    that requires voter registration services to be provided when a
    citizen applies for a driver’s license.
    “After years of negotiations, strategic planning, and the litigation
    process, we are excited to put a successful close to our lawsuit,”
    stated Noemi Ramos, Executive Director of NEU4J. “This was about
    protecting the rights of low-income people in the Commonwealth to
    access voter registration.”

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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://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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