[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/28/17

Thu Apr 27 21:44:40 PDT 2017

“Ahead of 2018, trial likely looms in Texas political map battle”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92280>
Posted on April 27, 2017 9:42 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92280> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas Tribune:<https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/27/trial-likely-looms-texas-political-map-battle/>
As the 2018 election cycle nears, it appears Texas and its legal foes are headed for a trial — yet again — over what the state’s House and congressional boundaries will look like, and it will likely come this summer.
“I think the trial is certain,” said Jose Garza, an attorney for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, a lead plaintiff in the years-long challenge of the state’s political boundaries. “At the end of the day, we’re going to get new political maps, and the court’s going to draw them.”
His comments followed a lengthy and complicated hearing Thursday over the fate of the state’s 2013 House and congressional maps — a high-profile status conference that followed a pair of federal rulings that Texas lawmakers intentionally discriminated against minority voters in initially drawing each map in 2011.
Judge Orlando Garcia, one of the three judges presiding over the case here, said the panel would issue an order Monday “covering several matters that have been raised today.”
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Judge says ex-Congressman Bob Beauprez’s group must pay $17,000 in campaign finance fines”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92278>
Posted on April 27, 2017 9:36 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92278> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Colorado Independent:<http://www.coloradoindependent.com/165093/bob-beauprez-matt-arnold-fine-colorado-dark-money>
Former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, who ran for governor in 2014, should have registered a nonprofit as a political committee, a judge ruled.
The decision came in response to a dark-money lawsuit filed by Matt Arnold, a non-attorney who prosecuted the case before an administrative law judge last month, arguing that Beauprez had run a political committee masked as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Schock wants campaign finance charges dropped”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92276>
Posted on April 27, 2017 9:34 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92276> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Hill:<http://thehill.com/homenews/house/330395-schock-wants-campaign-finance-charges-dropped>
Former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), who has been indicted on two-dozen fraud-related charges, wants a federal court to dismiss five counts on the falsifying of campaign finance records.
His lawyers at McGuireWoods argue that the charges infringe on his constitutional rights, including rights to due process, by using an anti-obstruction law to prosecute him for the alleged falsification of campaign expenses.
As a candidate and member of Congress, Schock “caused less than two handfuls of false entries to be made among hundreds in the records of certain political committees and among the scores of the disclosure reports that those committees filed with the [Federal Election Commission] in the ordinary course of business,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing late last week.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Eric Holder Rails Against Voter Suppression at NAN Convention: ‘Voter Fraud Wasn’t an Issue Until People of Color Started Casting Ballots’”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92274>
Posted on April 27, 2017 9:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92274> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Root reports.<http://www.theroot.com/former-atty-gen-eric-holder-rails-against-voter-suppr-1794700638>
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Why This Woman Who Cast An Illegal Vote For Donald Trump Is Getting A Pass For Voter Fraud”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92272>
Posted on April 27, 2017 5:58 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92272> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Sam Levine <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-voter-fraud_us_5901f0f6e4b081a5c0fb4a1c> for HuffPost.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Obama’s call to service isn’t enough: The problem with American democracy is structural, and he knows it”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92270>
Posted on April 27, 2017 1:50 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92270> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
David Daley<http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/obama-call-service-isn-article-1.3107796> for NYDN.
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Posted in alternative voting systems<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

“Should ‘Dark’ Money Power the Resistance to Trump?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92268>
Posted on April 27, 2017 1:46 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92268> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Eliza Newlin Carney<http://prospect.org/article/should-%E2%80%98dark%E2%80%99-money-power-resistance-trump> for TAP:
Watchdogs have faulted the IRS for failing to put the brakes on political spending by tax-exempt groups, which operate outside the disclosure rules. Technically, 501(c)(4) social welfare groups may not focus on politics as their primary purpose. But campaign-style spending by nonprofits not required to identify their donors has exploded since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling to lift limits on political spending by unions and corporations, including incorporated nonprofits.
Until recently, this has been largely a Republican game. Conservative tax-exempt groups spent 59.7 percent of the undisclosed campaign money in the 2016 election, CRP data show<https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2016&chrt=V&disp=O&type=U>, compared with 38.9 percent spent by liberal groups.
But Democrats, not willing to play by different rules, are catching up, and the trend could cause headaches for progressives. Party leaders have made attacks on undisclosed “dark” money a leading talking point. If Senators up for reelection get help from progressive groups operating in secrecy, it potentially undercuts Democrats’ campaign finance message. The IRS, moreover, has issued a string of rulings<https://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/writtenDeterminations.html?indexOfFirstRow=100&sortColumn=number&value=&criteria=&resultsPerPage=25&isDescending=true> recently that revoke or deny tax-exempt status to groups that the agency said strayed too far into politics, which does not qualify as a social welfare or charitable activity.
My take: this is equally troubling whether done by the left or right if the groups are seriously engaged in electoral activities.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“The Chosen One: Thoughts on a Better, Fairer, and Smarter Way to Choose Presidential Nominees”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92265>
Posted on April 27, 2017 10:36 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92265> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brennan Center:<https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/chosen-one-thoughts-better-fairer-and-smarter-way-choose-presidential-nominees>
Although the 2016 presidential primaries garnered profound dissatisfaction with the nomination process, leading to widespread accusations of unfairness within both parties, most voters will forget our current system’s issues until the 2020 election. But in a new paper, Brennan Center fellow, Roll Call columnist, and Yale lecturer in political science Walter Shapiro argues that 2020 will be far too late to rethink the nomination process – and there are a series of practical and effective reforms that could be put in place now to create a more representative system that limits the chances of unpopular or controversial candidates.
Download the Report<https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/PresidentialNominationsFINAL%20.pdf>
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Posted in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, primaries<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

“Klobuchar & Hirono Probe Thapar on Money in Politics”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92263>
Posted on April 27, 2017 7:10 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92263> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
PAW:<http://www.pfaw.org/blog-posts/klobuchar-hirono-probe-thapar-on-money-in-politics/>
One of the several concerns that have been raised about Sixth Circuit nominee Amul Thapar centers on a case in which he used a severely flawed First Amendment analysis to strike down Kentucky’s ban on state judicial candidates contributing money to political organizations or candidates. In Winter v. Wolnitzek, Thapar applied strict scrutiny (the highest possible standard) to the prohibition, even though the Supreme Court has stated repeatedly that restrictions on campaign contributions are subject to a lesser level of scrutiny. (His opinion was reversed by a unanimous three-judge circuit panel.)
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Drain the Swamp Dep’t: “Spending on lobbying approached $1 billion in first quarter, highest in 5 years”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92261>
Posted on April 27, 2017 7:08 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92261> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/spending-on-lobbying-approached-1-billion-in-first-quarter-highest-in-5-years/2017/04/25/0ab469f6-2910-11e7-be51-b3fc6ff7faee_story.html?utm_term=.21ce88aee005>
Industries from around the world spent nearly $1 billion to lobby the federal government during the first quarter of this year, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/04/fewer-lobbyists-more-money-whats-going-on/> — the highest in five years.
The uptick was driven by both optimism and fear over the priorities of President Trump and the Republican Congress, lobbying experts said. However, nervous drugmakers logged their biggest increase in spending amid signs that the new president may try to drive down drug prices.
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Posted in lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

--
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
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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