[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/15/16

Fri Jul 15 08:50:50 PDT 2016

“Election Cases Move Toward U.S. Supreme Court, Risking Deadlocks”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84293>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:33 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84293> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Greg Stohr<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-07-15/election-cases-move-toward-u-s-supreme-court-risking-deadlocks> for Bloomberg:

At the shorthanded U.S. Supreme Court, the next deadlock may affect the November election.

A group of voting-rights cases is making its way to a court that’s all but guaranteed to have a lingering vacancy through the election. The divisive nature of the issues may leave the eight justices unable to decide who can cast the ballots that will determine control of the White House and Congress.

The disputes involve voter-identification requirements in Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin; an early-voting period in Ohio; a variety of restrictions in North Carolina; and proof-of-citizenship laws elsewhere. The cases pit Democrats and civil-rights groups claiming discrimination against Republicans arguing the steps are warranted to prevent voter fraud.

“They affect the rights of voters to be able to cast an effective ballot that will be counted accurately,” said Rick Hasen, an election-law professor at the University of California, Irvine.

The eight-member court deadlocked in four cases in its just-completed term. Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and Senate Republicans have refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the slot.

The vacancy increases the potential for the cases to produce varied outcomes from state to state. A 4-4 Supreme Court split leaves the lower court ruling in place.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Oregon Senators Wyden, Merkley Propose National Vote-By-Mail”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84291>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:29 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84291> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A ChapinBlog.<http://editions.lib.umn.edu/electionacademy/2016/07/15/oregon-senators-wyden-merkley-propose-national-vote-by-mail/>
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Posted in absentee ballots<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

Question of the Day<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84288>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84288> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

If Trump is a multi-billionaire, why does the RNC have to be Sheldon Adelson to cough up $6 million for the convention shortfall?

(inspired by Alice Ollstein tweet<https://twitter.com/AliceOllstein/status/753938556536688640>)
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“A North Carolina law the Justice Dept. says has ‘a race-based purpose’ could have a huge impact on the election”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84286>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:23 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84286> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Reuters<http://www.businessinsider.com/r-changes-to-north-carolina-voting-laws-could-put-thousands-of-2016-ballots-at-risk-2016-7>:

A Reuters review of Republican-backed changes to North Carolina’s voting rules indicates as many as 29,000 votes might not be counted in this year’s Nov. 8 presidential election if a federal appeals court upholds the 2013 law. Besides banning voters from voting outside their assigned precinct on Election Day, the law also prevents them from registering the same day they vote during the early voting period….

Reuters reviewed state election board data showing the number of North Carolinians who made use of out-of-precinct voting and same-day registration in previous elections, including March’s state nominating contest, or primary, when voters nominated their preferred presidential candidate.

The Reuters analysis includes some assumptions. For 29,000 votes to go uncounted on Nov. 8, North Carolinians would need to vote in the same numbers and in the same ways they have in previous elections, including the March primary.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Quote of the Day: Stephen Colbert on RBG<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84284>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:13 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84284> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

“Here’s the deal….However she feels, Supreme Court justices are not supposed to influence our presidential elections until there is a recount in Florida.”

—Stephen Colbert <http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/colbert-rips-trump-ginsberg-feud-supreme-court-justices-are-not-supposed-influence-our> on the Late Show
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Posted in election law "humor"<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Notorious RBG Apologists Are Picking A Dangerous Fight”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84282>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:10 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84282> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steve Sanders writes<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-sanders/apologists-for-notorious-_b_10981516.html> for HuffPo.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Corrine Brown’s Legal Defense Fund Accepted Prohibited Contributions From Lobbyists”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84280>
Posted on July 15, 2016 8:08 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84280> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Free Beacon reports.<http://freebeacon.com/issues/corrine-brown-legal-defense-fund-accepted-lobbyist-contributions/>
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Posted in conflict of interest laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>, ethics investigations<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=42>, lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

Nina Totenberg Gets RBG on Tape: “You’ve Apologized So To Speak. Why?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84278>
Posted on July 15, 2016 7:38 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84278> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Must Listen.<http://listen:%20Justice%20Ginsburg%20Expands%20On%20Decision%20To%20Apologize%20For%20Trump%20Remarks/>

Asked why she felt it was time to say she was sorry about the remarks, Ginsburg said:

“Because it was incautious. I said something I should not have said and I made a statement that reads, ‘On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised. I regret making them. Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.’ And that’s exactly how I feel about this whole business.”
Ginsburg has had a history of transparency, Totenberg noted — the justice announced a cancer diagnosis to the public and a correction she made to an opinion she wrote, after a professor noted the mistake in a blog post. Totenberg then asked if this, like correction, was simply acknowledging a “goof.

Ginsburg responded, “I stand, Nina, by what I said. I would say yes to your question, and that’s why I gave the statement. I did something I should not have done. It’s over and done with, and I don’t want to discuss it any more.”

On that “blog post” error, see Nina’s earlier report<http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2014/10/22/358150014/justice-ginsburg-revises-texas-voter-id-dissent-then-announces-it>:

Three days after the opinion was released, professor Richard Hasen of the University of California, Irvine said on his election law blog<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=67193> that the state does in fact accept the Veterans Affairs IDs. Upon confirmation of that fact by the Texas secretary of state’s office, Ginsburg amended her opinion<http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14a393_p860.pdf>.

Not surprising. What was surprising is that, according to Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg, Justice Ginsburg instructed the press office to announce that the opinion had “contained an error” and that it was being corrected.

On Wednesday, the court announced the mistake and the correction.

Errors of this sort are not exactly rare. In this case, it appears that Ginsburg may have gotten the Wisconsin and Texas voter ID provisions, both before the court, mixed up.

Until the era of the blogosphere, however, this sort of mistake was the stuff of academic gossip. Now it is the stuff of academic blogs, which sometimes get picked up in the popular press. A more embarrassing mistake by Justice Antonin Scalia wascaught by<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2014/05/03/8629d9d8-d231-11e3-937f-d3026234b51c_story.html> Harvard Law professor Richard Lazarus last spring; the error was quickly fixed, but it was not announced. Nor was another error made and corrected by Justice Kagan.

Ginsburg is the first justice to call the public’s attention to her own mistake.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“The (Not So) Plain Meaning Rule”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84276>
Posted on July 15, 2016 7:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84276> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Very nice paper<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2805431> from Will Baude and Doerfler:
Under the “plain meaning rule,” courts interpreting a statute look beyond that statute’s text — but only if the text’s meaning is not “plain.” Though this rule has some intuitive appeal, it is quite puzzling upon further examination. We explain the puzzle, and then attempt to solve it.

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

This Week’s Goldfeder Presidential Daily Quizzes<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84274>
Posted on July 14, 2016 8:17 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84274> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here.<http://www.stroock.com/jgoldfeder/quiz>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Utah settles lawsuit, concedes First Amendment violation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84272>
Posted on July 14, 2016 8:14 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84272> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CCP:<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2016/07/14/utah-settles-lawsuit-concedes-first-amendment-violation/>

In an agreement approved by a federal judge this afternoon, Utah agreed not to enforce a state campaign finance law that violated the First Amendment. The complex law required nonprofit advocacy groups to register with the state and publicly report their supporters’ private information, threatening donations to those organizations.

The agreement, known as a consent decree<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001pdmsSHaaCDKHVNT9UGM3vpyPBP-a4Jj7Go08zhiA9BtXIOq4M1kgxMLv305PObF2pu6XZmF6TB50oJEn1syxts_RU5Uh4MfQQk8-H8IOmfhENypKSVcLzmlv_vMbbPohjt_0RqmBjT3Ajb9SfCRupoHguAgiavlugwGHFkGurhJZ_5iP7zxJII5-tzP6DknZqhJTJdZxV5ieFHv1XITp6pMA_hNyRhhNe6X0rznD9VINR1UWl_Gixcw6nAvFzqzlPb6CgvNDus4IRcTLdGfg-wm_EXaKukKMNWETSArTR4o=&c=M4x2Rvp_TIuhglEJVWpB7EEd_wxHrGAjwOtagLcyLk41GMbWAPEbfQ==&ch=zviQbqRa-ef16mTwDYg_-XasZSB1SnwmZYAPt59vVFRG8lKaYgZ88Q==>, was approved by U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball and settles a lawsuit filed on behalf of three Utah groups by attorneys at the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP), America’s largest nonprofit working to promote and defend First Amendment rights to freedom of political speech, assembly, and petition.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

“Working with observers to improve voting system reliability”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84270>
Posted on July 14, 2016 8:01 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84270> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That’s the lead story in this week’s Electionline Weekly.<http://www.electionline.org/index.php/electionline-weekly>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

Watch the Archived Video of Today’s @UCILaw #SCOTUS Term in Review Event<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84268>
Posted on July 14, 2016 7:52 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84268> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here.<http://livestream.com/accounts/867536/events/5521446>

It was a great and stimulating conversation, including an extended discussion of the Justice Ginsburg Trump comments controversy.

It featured Howard Bashman, Bob Barnes, Erwin Chemerinsky, Kaaryn Gustafson, Dahlia Lithwick, with me moderating.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“GOP Cleveland organizers beg Adelson for $6 million”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84266>
Posted on July 14, 2016 7:47 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84266> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The real story<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-begs-adelson-for-6-million-to-cover-convention-shortfall-225571> is the reason for the shortfall, not the begging of a plutocratic overlord:

In a letter to the Adelsons, obtained by POLITICO, the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee revealed the names of more than two dozen prominent corporations and individuals who have reneged on a collective $8.1 million in pledged donations….It goes on to list the companies and wealthy individuals who have withdrawn their financial commitments. Among those who have canceled their donations, according to the letter, are David Koch ($1 million), FedEx ($500,000), Visa ($100,000), Pepsi ($500,000) and Coca-Cola ($1 million).
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>

Nina Totenberg Talks About RBG’s Apology<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84263>
Posted on July 14, 2016 10:15 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84263> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Click on the audio to the left on this story<http://www.npr.org/2016/07/14/486012897/ginsburg-apologies-for-ill-advised-trump-comments> (the written story is not by Nina).

My rough transcription of part: “I was very surprised [she said these things]…She made a mistake. I have to say she is the most transparent Justice on the Court….She’s the first Justice who when she made a mistake…a minor error in a Supreme Court opinion…she announced she made a mistake and now other Justices do it…..It is rather refreshing. She can only hope the controversy will now subside….I think this is pretty clear evidence her mind is not shot and she’s not going to resign….I’m going to see her later today and I’m going to see if I can get any more out of her but I think this is it.”
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Green Party makes it onto Arizona ballot”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84261>
Posted on July 14, 2016 10:11 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84261> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Az Cap Times:<http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2016/07/13/green-party-makes-it-onto-arizona-ballot/>

Arizonans who are concerned about Clinton, terrified of Trump and are jittery about Johnson are going to have another choice.

Secretary of State Michele Reagan has agreed to put electors for Jill Stein on the Nov. 8 ballot even though Green Party officials missed the June 1 deadline for submitting their names.

But it took a federal court lawsuit to make it happen after Reagan told party officials that, absent a court order, Stein would be struck.

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Posted in third parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>

--
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<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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