[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/6/15
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Tue Oct 6 09:56:47 PDT 2015
“State high court set to hear arguments on Citizens United advisory
measure” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76465>
Posted onOctober 6, 2015 9:50 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76465>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT
<http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-court-ballot-20151006-story.html>:
California legislators decided last year to ask voters whether they
supported overturning a landmark ruling that allowed unlimited
corporate spending to support or denounce federal candidates.
A conservative taxpayers group balked, arguing that state
legislators lack the power to put advisory measures on the ballot.
The California Supreme Court agreed to remove Proposition 49 and to
decide in a later ruling whether it could go forward in a future
election.
The court will hear arguments on the case Tuesday, generally the
last step before issuing a decision. If the Legislature wins,
Californians will be able to cast an advisory vote next year on
whether Citizens United, a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that
overturned campaign spending laws, should be repealed by a federal
constitutional amendment….
UC Irvine Professor Richard L. Hasen, an expert in election law,
said there was “great value” in allowing voters to express
disapproval of a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“On the other hand I worry about gaming the system and cluttering
the ballot,” Hasen said. “It is a hard question.”
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Supreme
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Super PACs stretch the rules that prohibit coordination with
presidential campaigns” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76463>
Posted onOctober 6, 2015 9:47 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76463>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-politics-superpacs-impact-20151005-story.html>:
One Democratic commissioner at the FEC said that she is “very
concerned” about the growing influence of super PACs and frustrated
about the inability of her agency to do anything about it.
“These super PACS are more and more operating as arms of the
campaigns,” said Ellen Weintraub, a former campaign finance lawyer.
“I just find it hard to reconcile the notion that there’s no
potential for corruption with super PACs raising and spending
unlimited amounts of money.”
She said it was not surprising that campaigns and their allies were
pushing the boundaries because the three Republican commissioners
had blocked any attempt to write rules to limit super PACs.
“Our inaction is feeding a culture out there that says political
actors don’t really have to abide by the rules, because if they
don’t, nothing is going to happen,” she said.
The top Republican on the FEC, vice chairman Matthew Petersen, did
not respond to a request for comment.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“High court to decide free-speech limits in political-retribution
case” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76461>
Posted onOctober 6, 2015 9:45 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76461>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT:
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-public-employees-20151001-story.html>
The Supreme Court said Thursday it will decide an important question
on the rights of the nation’s 22 million public employees: How far
do free-speech rights go in protecting a public employee who is
demoted or fired over his or her perceived political affiliations?
In the past, the court has said public employees have 1st Amendment
rights, including the right to speak out on public issues. But lower
courts are split on whether these employees are always protected
from political retaliation.
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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“How Chief Justice Roberts and Four Supreme Court Colleagues Gave
the Nation a System of Legalized Bribery”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76459>
Posted onOctober 6, 2015 9:38 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76459>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Fred Wertheimer oped
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-wertheimer/how-chief-justice-roberts_b_8251506.html>.
One of my goals in writingPlutocrats
United<http://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453/ref=la_B0089NJCR2_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430416698&sr=1-7>is
to banish the term “legalized bribery” from the reformers’ lexicon.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Supreme
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Christopher Coates Heavily Criticizes Ari Berman Voting Rights Book
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76457>
Posted onOctober 6, 2015 9:37 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76457>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Former DOJ voting section chief, who has now become associated with
conservative legal attacks
<http://www.theacru.org/christopher-coates-joins-acru-as-general-counsel/>on
the DOJ’s voting rights position,minces no words.
<http://pjmedia.com/blog/voting-rights-fables-biased-new-book-give-us-the-ballot-fuels-minority-fears/?singlepage=true>
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Posted inThe Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
“Launch of Voting Rights Institute: Remarks of J. Gerald Hebert on
October 2, 2015” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76455>
Posted onOctober 6, 2015 9:34 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76455>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Gerry
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/blog/launch-voting-rights-institute-remarks-j-gerald-hebert-october-2-2015>:
*_The VRI will have 3 main focuses_*, and Dean Treanor and Caroline
Fredrickson have highlighted two of them: a VRI at Georgetown Law
will provide opportunities for students, recent graduates, and
fellows to engage in litigation and policy work in the field of
voting rights through work in Georgetown Law’s Civil Rights Clinic,
with ACS and CLC directly involved to provide counsel, strategic
advice, and through practicum courses. We have committed to
establishing the first-ever Voting Rights Institute at GULC, making
it “the place” to study voting rights law and learn how to conduct
voting rights litigation.
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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
“In Menendez case, Citizens United also on trial”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76453>
Posted onOctober 5, 2015 9:52 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76453>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Philly.com
<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20151006_In_Menendez_case__Citizens_United_also_on_trial.html>:
The corruption case against New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez has
become a battleground over the controversial Supreme Court decision
that allowed the flood of campaign money that is reshaping elections.
I remain skeptical of the tension between the two.
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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,campaign finance
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“AG’s office files new felony identify theft charge against Dianna
Duran” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76451>
Posted onOctober 5, 2015 9:48 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76451>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Albuquerque Journal
<http://www.abqjournal.com/653292/politics/ags-office-files-new-felony-identify-theft-charge-against-dianna-duran.html>:
Attorney General Hector Balderas’s office has tacked another
criminal charge onto its case against Secretary of State Dianna
Duran, alleging the person Duran listed as her campaign treasurer
during her 2010 election bid — former state Sen. Don Kidd — did not
know his name was being used and had no role in verifying Duran’s
campaign reports.
In addition, the AG’s office filed notice it intends to seek an
enhancement to any possible sentence handed down to Duran under a
high-profile but untested 2012 public corruption bill.
The legal salvos capped off a week in which Duran’s attorney filed a
motion to have the Attorney General’s Office disqualified from
prosecuting the Duran case and Balderas moved to cut formal ties
between the two offices, pending the case’s outcome.
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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
“Former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White begins home
detention sentence” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76449>
Posted onOctober 5, 2015 9:46 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76449>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
IndyStar
<http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/05/former-indiana-secretary-state-charlie-white-begins-home-detention-sentence/73388328/>:
Former Secretary of State Charlie White has started serving his home
detention sentence after losing a lengthy legal battle to have all
of his felony convictions in a voter fraud case overturned.
The former Hamilton County Republican Party chairman was placed on
electronic monitoring Friday, said Ralph Watson, executive director
for Hamilton County Community Corrections. White began his sentence
after exhausting all of his options in state courts to overturn his
convictions.
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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>,SOS White
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=13>
“Supreme Court Plans to Highlight Revisions in Its Opinions”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76447>
Posted onOctober 5, 2015 9:34 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76447>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/politics/supreme-court-to-highlight-revisions-in-its-opinions.html?ref=politics&_r=0>:
TheSupreme Court
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org>announced
<http://www.supremecourt.gov/>on Monday that it would disclose
after-the-fact changes to its opinions,a common practice
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/us/final-word-on-us-law-isnt-supreme-court-keeps-editing.html>that
had garnered little attention until a law professor at Harvardwrote
about it
<http://harvardlawreview.org/2014/12/the-nonfinality-of-supreme-court-opinions/>last
year.
The court also took steps to address“link rot” in its decisions
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/us/politics/in-supreme-court-opinions-clicks-that-lead-nowhere.html>.
A study last year found that nearly half of hyperlinks inSupreme
Court
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org>opinions
no longer work.
And the court said it would bar“line standers”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/supreme-court-spectator-line-acts-as-a-toll-booth.html>who
hold places for lawyers eager to see high profile arguments.
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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Supreme Court Inadvertently Announces Argument Date in Voting Case”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76445>
Posted onOctober 5, 2015 9:30 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76445>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Tony Mauro:
<http://www.nationallawjournal.com/supremecourtbrief/id=1202739008839/Supreme-Court-Inadvertently-Announces-Argument-Date-in-Voting-Case>
The closely watched “one person one vote” election law case/Evenwel
v. Abbott/is set to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov.
30, according to an apparently inadvertent post on the court’s website.
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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>,Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
--
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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