[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/9/16
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Fri Apr 8 21:44:52 PDT 2016
“How a film about Obama’s communist ‘real father’ won at the FEC”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81711>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 9:41 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81711>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/08/how-a-film-about-obamas-communist-real-father-won-at-the-fec/>:
There’s little evidence that the film, directed by Joel Gilbert,
moved votes. It was not a “birther” advertisement — Gilbert never
questioned that Obama was eligible to be president — but in focus
groups conducted for Republicans, it alienated more voters than it
attracted. While Gilbert financed the film itself, anonymous backers
helped send it to swing states. At the time, the Republican Party
and Mitt Romney’s campaign wanted nothing to do with the new “Dreams.”
In 2014, a progressive activist named Loren Collins filed a Federal
Election Commission complaint against Gilbert, arguing that the
filmmaker had a responsibility to disclose his donors. The FEC
finally weighed in last month, and in a typical 3-3 split decision —
by law, the FEC is perpetually split between Democratic and
Republican commissioners — Gilbert’s DVD mailing was considered
“press,” not subject to donor disclosure, comparable to any
political documentary.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
“FEC deadlocked on allegation that Gingrich used 2012 campaign to
sell books” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81709>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 9:39 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81709>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fec-deadlocks-over-allegations-gingrich-used-2012-campaign-to-sell-books/2016/04/08/ab34ba64-fda8-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html>:
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich will not face a Federal Election
Commission investigation into allegations that he broke federal law
by using his 2012 presidential campaign to promote books that he and
his wife wrote, documents released Friday show.
As part of an agreement with the FEC finalized Feb. 23, the veteran
Republican party leader will shut down his 2012 committee, Newt
2012, in the next few months. The campaignstill owes nearly $4
million
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-racks-up-more-debt-as-his-campaign-disintegrates/2012/04/21/gIQA9dCDXT_story.html>to
more than 100 vendors, who are now unlikely to see full payment.
The FEC’s top attorney recommended in 2013 that the agency
investigate Gingrich, but the case languished and the six-member
commission eventually deadlocked along partisan lines in June, with
the three Republican commissioners voting against an inquiry.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
“Raskin: Hogan ‘very receptive’ to possible redistricting
compromise” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81707>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 9:22 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81707>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/is-hogan-interested-in-a-compromise-on-redistricting/2016/04/08/845fa8b4-fd98-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html>:
A leading Democratic senator said Friday that Gov. Larry Hogan (R)
may be open to a compromise proposal for redrawing the boundaries of
congressional districts, after his own plan has stalled in the
legislature for three months.
Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery) said he met with Hogan, Lt. Gov.
Boyd Rutherford and the governor’s chief of staff for nearly
25 minutes on Friday in a spirited discussion about Raskin’s
proposal to create a “Potomac compact” that would allow an
independent panel to draw congressional lines for Maryland and Virginia.
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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>
“Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio pushed boundaries of campaign finance with
unlimited donations, secrecy” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81705>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 9:15 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81705>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Tampa Bay Times:
<http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-pushed-boundaries-of-campaign-finance-with-unlimited/2272444>
Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio burned through that much cash before
joining the heap of failed 2016 presidential candidates, an
astounding figure even in the big-money era.
But more important, the Floridians pushed new boundaries of campaign
finance, setting examples likely to be copied by other candidates
while leaving behind a string of complaints from watchdog groups
contending laws were broken.
“They are pilgrims on the path to destroying the campaign finance
system,” said Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, an advocacy group
that filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission, the IRS
and the Justice Department.
For months, Bush insisted he was not a candidate while traveling the
country to collect millions for a super PAC. The undeclared status
allowed Bush to work closely with Right to Rise and take in
unlimited donations instead of the $2,700 individual contribution
limit his campaign faced.
By the time Bush announced, he had amassed most of his $100 million
“shock and awe” war chest.
Rubio benefitted from a nonprofit that also collected huge donations
— at least $16 million — and financed TV ads in early nominating
states. The tax-exempt group provided donors with the cloak of
anonymity, injecting untraceable “dark money” into the political
discourse.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
Kobach Drops Another Voter Fraud Case in Kansas
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81703>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 9:11 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81703>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Yep, a real epidemic.
<http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article70875682.html>
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Posted infraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>,The
Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
“The Voter Support Agency Accused of Suppressing Votes”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81701>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 12:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81701>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Michael Wines
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/us/election-assistance-commission-motor-voter-lawsuit.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0>for
the NYT:
The federalElection Assistance Commission <http://www.eac.gov/>was
formed after the disputed 2000 election between George W. Bush and
Al Gore and given an innocuous name and a seemingly inoffensive
mission: to help state election officials make it easier to vote.
In this poisonous, ideologically riven election season, it turns
out, that is not easy at all.
The election commission is in federal court this month, effectively
accused of trying to suppress voter turnout in November’s elections.
The Justice Department, its nominal legal counsel, has declined to
defend it. Its case instead is being pleaded by one of the nation’s
leading advocates of voting restrictions. The agency’s chairman has
disavowed its actions.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,Election Assistance Commission
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
7th Circuit Likely to Revive As-Applied Challenge to WI Voter ID
Law, But Uncertain End Game <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81699>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 12:32 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81699>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Yesterday the 7th Circuit (with a panel of Judges Easterbrook, Sykes,
and Kanne) heard oral argument in a follow-on federal challenge to
Wisconsin’s voter id law. You can listen to theoral argument
<http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/sound/external/ab.15-3582.15-3582_04_07_2016.mp3>.
After listening, I believe the 7th Circuit is extremely likely to send
this case back to the district court for a possible trial on whether
voters facing special burdens under Wisconsin’s law are entitled to an
as-applied exemption from the law.
To review (as I explain inthis draft pape
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2743946>r): In
Wisconsin, voting rights plaintiffs challenged Wisconsin’s tough voter
identification law in both state and federal court. A federal court held
the law violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the United
States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin
Supreme Court in a state challenge to the voter identification
requirements construed its laws and related regulations to allow voters
who lacked documentation proving identity which is not freely available
to nonetheless obtain a voter identification card. After this
construction of Wisconsin law by the state’s highest court, the United
States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (in a panel which included
both Justices Easterbrook and Sykes) rejected both the constitutional
and Voting Rights Act challenges to the law on a facial basis. Frank v.
Walker, 17 F. Supp. 3d 837 (E.D. Wisc. 2014),/rev’d/, 768 F.3d 744 (7^th
Cir. 2014), cert. denied 135 S. Ct. 1551 (2014).The entire Seventh
Circuit denied rehearing en banc by an equally divided 5-5 vote, over a
strong dissent, 773 F.3d 783 (7^th Cir. 2014). The Supreme Court denied
a petition for writ of certiorari. 135 S. Ct. 1551 (2014).
On remand, the plaintiffs argued that they should be able to bring an
as-applied challenge arguing that those voters who face special burdens
getting voter id should be allowed an exemption under the law,
especially because of indications that the DMV is not doing a good job
helping these plaintiffs vote. (It seems pretty clear the DMV is doing a
lousy job, as I wrote in The Hard Power of ‘Soft’ Voter-ID Laws
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/the-hard-power-of-soft-voter-id-laws/473595/>,/The
Atlantic/, March 14, 2016 and in this draft pape
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2743946>r, which
should eventually appear in the/Wisconsin Law Review/). The district
court held that the 7th Circuit opinion precluded such an as applied
challenge.
At the oral argument yesterday, it was very clear that Judge Easterbrook
thinks the district court got this wrong, and in fact the 7th Circuit
allowed plaintiffs to go back to the district court to bring an
as-applied challenge, based in part on how Wisconsin was doing with
handling its voter id laws on the ground. The state’s lawyer got a real
grilling from Easterbrook, while the ACLU lawyer got few questions of
clarification.
So the case will likely go back, and Judge Adelman, who is the one who
found the ID law was unconstitutional and a voting rights act violation
in the first place, will now rule on the as applied challenge. That
ruling will then likely get appealed to the 7th Circuit again, and again
potentially to the Supreme Court.
The big unanswered question: will voters who face special burdens
getting ids in Wisconsin continue to be disenfranchised for the November
2016 presidential election? The timing of things makes this a real
possibility.
(More and the case and oral argument fromAlice Ollstein.
<https://t.co/UUsYtlLRlj>)
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,voter id
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>,Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
Congratulations to Frank Askin <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81696>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 11:52 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81696>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
on his retirement after a very successful career at Rutgers, which
focused in part on election law.
See theretirement celebration notice.
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Askin-Email-Invite-1.pdf>
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Posted inelection law biz <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>
“Is Originalism Meretricious?” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81694>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 11:50 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81694>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Smart post
<http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2016/04/is-originalism-meretricious.html>from
Steve Lubet on originalism and Justice Alito in /Evenwel./
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“The Week in Politics: A Bipartisan Approach to Voter Registration
and the Latest Election Results” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81692>
Posted onApril 8, 2016 8:05 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81692>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Governing
<http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-week-politics-voter-registration-wisconsin-primary.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_content=email&utm_campaign=A%20Bipartisan%20Approach%20to%20Voter%20Registration%20and%20the%20Latest%20Election%20Results&utm_term=KEEP%20READING%20%3E%3E#continued>on
W Va.
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Posted inelection administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
--
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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