[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/15/17

Wed Feb 15 07:53:34 PST 2017

“Feds urge Supreme Court to turn down Menendez appeal in bribery case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91128>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:39 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91128> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico:<http://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/02/feds-urge-supreme-court-to-turn-down-menendez-appeal-in-bribery-case-109595>
The federal bribery charges against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in no way intrude on legislative activity protected by the Constitution’s speech-or-debate clause, the Justice Department said this week, urging the Supreme Court not to take up the lawmaker’s appeal….
Petitioner has not cited any decision, by any court, holding that the Clause protects conduct like that alleged here,” several solicitors general wrote in a brief filed on Monday<http://www.politico.com/states/f/?id=0000015a-3e0a-d784-a5fb-3ebe14610001>. “Instead, he contends … that the court of appeals erred by examining the ‘purpose’ or ‘motive’ of his lobbying. But the court conducted that inquiry only because it adopted petitioner’s view that the Speech or Debate Clause protects efforts to lobby the Executive Branch if those efforts are aimed at ‘policy’ rather than a particular case.”
I don’t think they meant “several solicitors general”
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“The president lays the groundwork for a nationwide voter intimidation program”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91126>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:30 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91126> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Sherillyn Ifill oped <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-president-lays-the-groundwork-for-a-nationwide-voter-intimidation-program/2017/02/14/ef524326-f2dd-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html?utm_term=.d0601ddcece9&wpmk=MK0000200> for WaPo.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D91126&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20president%20lays%20the%20groundwork%20for%20a%20nationwide%20voter%20intimidation%20program%E2%80%9D>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Making Voting White Again;The Trump administration’s continued repetition of bogus claims of voter fraud has a very specific purpose”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91124>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:29 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91124> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jamelle Bouie<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/02/the_trump_administration_is_pushing_the_voter_fraud_falsehood_still.html> for Slate.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D91124&title=%E2%80%9CMaking%20Voting%20White%20Again%3BThe%20Trump%20administration%E2%80%99s%20continued%20repetition%20of%20bogus%20claims%20of%20voter%20fraud%20has%20a%20very%20specific%20purpose%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Do voter identification laws suppress minority voting? Yes. We did the research”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91122>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:25 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91122> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Zoltan L. Hajnal, Nazita Lajevardi and Lindsay Nielson for The Monkey Cage<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/15/do-voter-identification-laws-suppress-minority-voting-yes-we-did-the-research/?utm_term=.a3d59065869c>:
When we compare overall turnout in states with strict ID laws to turnout in states without these laws, we find no significant difference. That pattern matches with most existing studies. But when we dig deeper and look specifically at racial and ethnic minority turnout, we see a significant drop in minority participation when and where these laws are implemented.
Hispanics are affected the most: Turnout is 7.1 percentage points lower in general elections and 5.3 points lower in primaries in strict ID states than it is in other states. Strict ID laws mean lower African American, Asian American and multiracial American turnout as well. White turnout is largely unaffected.
These laws have a disproportionate effect on minorities, which is exactly what you would expect given that members of racial and ethnic minorities are less apt to have valid photo ID.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D91122&title=%E2%80%9CDo%20voter%20identification%20laws%20suppress%20minority%20voting%3F%20Yes.%20We%20did%20the%20research%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

“A Threat to Democracy; Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch would be a gift to wealthy campaign donors.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91120>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:22 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91120> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Karen Hobert Flynn <http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-02-14/supreme-court-nominee-gorsuch-is-a-threat-to-democracy> of Common Cause with this US News oped.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Trump Claims Voter Fraud, FEC Commissioner Wants Administration’s Evidence”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91118>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91118> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NPR talks<http://www.npr.org/2017/02/15/515336630/trump-claims-voter-fraud-fec-wants-administrations-evidence> to Ellen Weintraub.
I think it is great that the Commissioner is bringing more attention to false claims of voter fraud, but the subject is not within the purview of the FEC, which deals with campaign finance issues.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D91118&title=%E2%80%9CTrump%20Claims%20Voter%20Fraud%2C%20FEC%20Commissioner%20Wants%20Administration%E2%80%99s%20Evidence%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Responses to a Pence Commission on Voter Fraud”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91116>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:10 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91116> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Important Bauer<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2017/02/choosing-respond-pence-commission/> on how election administration experts should respond to the Pence Commission:
This leaves members of this community with a couple of choices.
One is declining to participate: no testimony, no written submissions. The Commission will want to say that it consulted experts around the country. It will be useful in limiting the harms of this project to show that this is not true. By refusing to support the inquiry, community members will be protected against the linkage of their names to the Commission’s work, a connection accomplished by the mere fact of their showing up.
Or now, prior to the institution of the Commission, members of this same community can respectfully and publicly request that the Administration reconsider this ill-fated venture. If the President or Vice President or Stephen Miller, or all, are worried about the quality of electoral administration, they can support the reform program now in progress in state and local governments, supported by nonpartisan nonprofit organizations. Miller seemed entirely unaware of this work in his remarks on ABC about inaccurate voter registration records, and this is not the only part of the story he is uninformed about. Experts around the country can tell that story, the whole story,in disputing the premise of the proposed Commission.
This public case may not be successful in giving the Administration pause. But it would at least help to shape public judgment of the Commission’s purposes and legitimacy; it would become an indispensable part of its history. And it is the only contribution to that history that experts and officials with names to protect and a serious job to do would want to have anything to do with writing.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Trump Then: ‘I Would Have No Problem’ Banning Lobbyists. Trump Now: You’re Hired!”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91114>
Posted on February 15, 2017 7:06 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91114> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Justin Elliott<https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-before-would-have-no-problem-banning-lobbyists-trump-now-youre-hired> for Pro Publica.
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Posted in lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

Gerrymandering and partisan composition of Congress (cont.)<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91110>
Posted on February 14, 2017 4:18 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91110> by Justin Levitt<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
At Rick (Hasen)’s request, I wanted to add just a bit to Rick (Pildes)’s original post<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91074> on the new paper<http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jowei/gerrymandering.pdf> by Jowei Chen and David Cottrell, proposing a means to assess the net partisan consequences of congressional redistricting.
Given the inevitable shorthand descriptions of the paper in the media, a few short suggestions:
Most important, this paper does not mean that the benefits and detriments of the status quo are basically a wash.   (Though some might draw that conclusion from the summary<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91074>, I also don’t think that’s the implication that either Rick or the original authors would draw.)  More on why, below the cut.
Continue reading →<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91110#more-91110>
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“N.J. Dems want to push future presidents to do what Trump wouldn’t: Release tax returns”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91105>
Posted on February 14, 2017 1:41 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91105> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Philly.com:<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/NJ-Dems-want-to-push-future-presidents-to-do-what-Trump-wouldnt-release-tax-returns.html>
If President Trump, or anyone else, wants to get on the New Jersey ballot to run for president in 2020, he could have to release his tax returns, if some Democratic lawmakers have their way.
Whether legislators have that power was an open question Monday, as the Assembly Judiciary Committee advanced a bill that would require candidates for president and vice president to disclose their federal income tax returns in order to appear on the state’s ballot.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“The Rise and Fall of a K Street Renegade”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91103>
Posted on February 14, 2017 9:26 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91103> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Riveting, must-read<https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-k-street-renegade-1487001918> by Brody Mullins in the WSJ, with the subhead:  “Evan Morris, a high-flying corporate lobbyist, is suspected of embezzling millions of dollars in what is shaping up to be a sprawling Washington influence scandal.”
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Posted in lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

“Grand Prairie mom who got eight years: ‘I just wanted to vote and be part of it’”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91101>
Posted on February 14, 2017 8:20 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91101> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Fort Worth Star-Telegram:<http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article132520219.html>
“I thought I was doing something right for my country. When they gave me the sentence they just broke my heart, and they didn’t just break my heart, but I already knew my family was going to be broken, my kids especially,” Ortega said Monday during an interview at the jail, where she will remain for about a month until being transported to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility. “To me, it’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this. I just can’t.’ ”
As a green-card holder, Ortega says she never thought she couldn’t vote. While a resident of Dallas County, Ortega received a voter card after providing a valid driver’s license and Social Security card and being approved through the state process, according to Toni Pippins-Poole, the Dallas County elections administrator.
Watch the video interview<http://www.star-telegram.com/news/article132501544.html>. This woman should be punished, but eight years for what appears to be a stupid mistake?  Especially when Ethan Couch<http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article52741505.html>, the drunk driving killer who claimed “affluenza” in Texas got a SUSPENDED sentence.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Demos and Project Vote team with Hogan Lovells to Help Prevent Unlawful Voter Purge in Philadelphia”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91099>
Posted on February 14, 2017 8:13 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91099> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release<http://www.demos.org/press-release/demos-and-project-vote-team-hogan-lovells-help-prevent-unlawful-voter-purge-philadelph>:
Today, voting rights groups Demos and Project Vote urged a federal appeals court to uphold a decision dismissing an attempt by the so-called “American Civil Rights Union” (ACRU) to force the City of Philadelphia to conduct an unnecessary purge of its voter rolls. In an amicus curiae brief prepared by the law firm Hogan Lovells, filed in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the groups argue that ACRU’s attempt to turn the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) on its head, to force a voter purge targeting people with felony convictions, is legally untenable and will result in countless eligible Philadelphia voters being disenfranchised.
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

--
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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