[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/31/15

Tue Mar 31 07:23:42 PDT 2015

    “Supreme Court asks Virginia panel to reexamine redistricting
    decision” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71396>

Posted onMarch 31, 2015 7:20 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71396>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports. 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-asks-virginia-panel-to-reexamine-redistricting-decision/2015/03/30/d5461ec0-d6de-11e4-b3f2-607bd612aeac_story.html>

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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>,Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    “The Donation Concentration Metric (U.S. Congress Personal Gain
    Index)” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71394>

Posted onMarch 31, 2015 7:15 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71394>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New analysis 
<http://ballotpedia.org/The_Donation_Concentration_Metric_%28U.S._Congress_Personal_Gain_Index%29>at 
BallotPedia.

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

    “Super PACs in the Electoral Process”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71392>

Posted onMarch 31, 2015 7:12 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71392>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bauer blogs. 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2015/03/super-pacs-electoral-process/>

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

    “After the Override: An Empirical Analysis of Shadow Precedent”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71390>

Posted onMarch 31, 2015 7:09 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71390>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Brian Broughman and Deborah Widiss have postedthis draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2470278>on SSRN. 
  Here is the abstract:

*Abstract:*

    The ability of Congress to override judicial interpretations of
    statutory language is central to legislative supremacy. Both
    political science and legal scholarship assume, often implicitly,
    that enactment of a legislative override will effectively replace
    the pre-existing precedent, akin to a judicial overruling of a prior
    decision. Yet, because the superseding language comes from Congress
    rather than the courts, it is often unclear precisely how an
    override interacts with the pre-existing precedent. Our study is the
    first to empirically address this issue. We built an original
    dataset of annual citations to three different groups of Supreme
    Court decisions: (i) cases overridden by Congress (ii) cases
    subsequently overruled by the Court, and (iii) a matched control
    group of Supreme Court decisions that were neither overridden nor
    overruled. Using fixed effect regression analysis, we find that, on
    average, citation levels to cases that have been at least partially
    superseded — what we call “shadow precedents” — decrease only
    minimally after an override, while they decrease dramatically after
    a judicial overruling. Our results suggest that when faced with
    competing signals from Congress and the courts above them, trial
    courts look for interpretive guidance from other judicial actors,
    and that courts often continue to rely extensively on overridden
    precedents.

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Posted inlegislation and legislatures 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,statutory interpretation 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=21>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

    Richard Epstein Endorses Justice Thomas Approach in Alabama
    Redistricting Case <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71388>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 3:57 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71388>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here 
<http://www.hoover.org/research/wanted-color-blind-voting-rights-law>, 
in “Wanted: A Color-Blind Voting Law.”

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

    “As Dark Money Monsters Torment Investors, Shareholders Need SEC
    Chair to Be Superhero; They Ask: ‘Where Is Mary Jo White?’”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71386>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 3:24 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71386>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See this press release 
<http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=5458>.

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

    “Which Companies Are Buying the Election?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71384>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 3:18 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71384>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT editorial. 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/opinion/which-companies-are-buying-the-election-securities-and-exchange-commission.html?_r=0>

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

    “Federal Contractors Should Disclose Political Spending”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71382>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 3:17 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71382>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Brennan Center 
<https://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/new-analysis-curb-corruption-president-should-mandate-disclosure-federal-contractors%E2%80%99>:

    Ahead of the 2016 election entering full swing, President Obama
    should mandate disclosure of political spending by government
    contractors to boost public confidence in government, argues a new
    Brennan Center analysis
    <http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/requiring-government-contractors-disclose-political-spending> issued
    today.

    Since 2010’s /Citizens United/ decision, dark money spending — by
    groups that conceal their donations from the public — has risen
    dramatically. The trend raises troubling questions about whether the
    public can effectively assess the influence of big donors on
    individual candidates’ policy positions. When it comes to those
    seeking government contracts, the opportunity for political
    corruption is even greater and could cost taxpayers millions,
    according to /Requiring Government Contractors to Disclose Political
    Spending/
    <https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/requiring-government-contractors-disclose-political-spending>.

    In fiscal year 2014, the federal government spent approximately $460
    billion on private sector contractors, almost 40 percent of which
    went to just 25 companies. With so much money at play, the impetus
    to court politicians with power over those contracts is obvious – as
    is the American public’s interest in transparency.

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

    Remember When People Were Hoping Sen. Cochran Would Supported
    Renewed Voting Rights Act? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71380>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 3:14 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71380>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That was thanks to African-American voters giving him a victory in a 
hard fought Republican primary runoff.  Cochran has done nothing to 
support the VRAA.  Meanwhile, he cannot even /remember/if he met AG 
nominee Loretta Lynch.NYT: 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/30/us/politics/in-holding-up-loretta-lynch-attorney-general-nominee-gop-is-in-a-quandary.html?ref=politics>

    The pressure has fallen on Senators Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, Dean
    Heller of Nevada, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thad Cochran of
    Mississippi and Rob Portman of Ohio to announce their positions.

    Mr. Kirk and Mr. Portman face re-election next year in states with
    large African-American populations. Mr. Cochran barely staved off
    aTea Party
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/tea_party_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> challenger
    in his state’s Republican primary last year, winning only because
    black voters crossed party lines to support him.

    Mr. Cochran, who said he could not recall if he had met with Ms.
    Lynch, said race would not be a consideration.

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Posted inVRAA <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>

    “Despite Citizens United, elections aren’t a good investment for
    corporations” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71378>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 8:01 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71378>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lee Drutman writes 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/despite-citizens-united-politics-isnt-a-good-investment-for-corporations/2015/03/27/f13e0d20-d26c-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html>for 
WaPo.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,lobbying 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

    “‘I’m Not a Candidate': How Presidential Hopefuls Get Around Finance
    Rules” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71376>

Posted onMarch 30, 2015 8:00 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71376>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Open Secrets and The Guardian report. 
<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/03/im-not-a-candidate-how-presidential-hopefuls-get-around-finance-rules/>

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

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