[EL] Wisconsin redistricting ruling; more news

Fri Jan 27 09:48:41 PST 2017

Breaking: Three-Judge Court Issues Order on Remedy in WI Partisan Gerrymandering Case, Teeing Up Issue for #SCOTUS Review<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90730>
Posted on January 27, 2017 9:46 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90730> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The three-judge court considering the Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case, Whitford v. Nichols, has issued this remedial order<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/whitford-remedy.pdf> in the Wisconsin gerrymandering case. It requires the Wisconsin legislature to pass a new plan remedying the partisan gerrymandering found by the court at an earlier stage in the case. The plan must be enacted by Nov. 1, 2017 for use in the 2018 elections (unless the Supreme Court reverses on the merits).
This case will be appealed to the Supreme Court, where I think there is a good chance the Court will take it. (There is also a North Carolina case on this issue waiting in the wings, and a Maryland case on the way as well.) Here is my analysis <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89402> of the Wisconsin case on the merits.
One way or the other, I expect within a few years the Supreme Court will rule on whether or not courts will police partisan gerrymandering, and with four votes in favor of doing so (the four liberal Justices) it will take Justice Kennedy to change his mind, or perhaps a new SCOTUS Justice, to get to 5. (Roberts and Alito have not fully weighed in on the question, but I expect them to be skeptical.)

[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90730&title=Breaking%3A%20Three-Judge%20Court%20Issues%20Order%20on%20Remedy%20in%20WI%20Partisan%20Gerrymandering%20Case%2C%20Teeing%20Up%20Issue%20for%20%23SCOTUS%20Review>

Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Even Worse Than It Looks with Phillips<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90726>
Posted on January 27, 2017 8:39 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90726> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
He’s said<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/825017682143518724> that Obama’s DHS hacked the elections and the Israelis hacked the DNC.
Lovely.
The NYT collects<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/politics/donald-trump-administration-health-care.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0> more of his conspiracy-minded and fact-free tweets.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90726&title=Even%20Worse%20Than%20It%20Looks%20with%20Phillips>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

More on Phillips: “Trump’s unsupported claim of voter fraud appears to have Texas roots”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90723>
Posted on January 27, 2017 7:20 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90723> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas Tribune:<https://www.texastribune.org/2016/11/28/trumps-unsupported-claim-voter-fraud-has-texas-roo/?utm_campaign=trib-social&utm_medium=social&utm_source=sprout&utm_content=1485523789>
Phillips, who described himself on social media as founder of VoteStand, an election fraud reporting app, has declined to provide proof to the media, saying<https://twitter.com/JumpVote/status/803249259705495552>he will instead “release all methodologies, data and analysis directly to the public.” He does not appear to have given any indication when that will happen, and efforts to reach him early Monday were unsuccessful.
While Phillips is re-emerging in the news following Trump’s tweet Sunday, Texans may be more familiar with his tenure as an executive deputy commissioner at the state’s Health and Human Services Commission. According<https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregg-phillips-b393163> to his LinkedIn profile, he held the position from March 2003 to August 2004, playing a big role in shaping the 2003 bill to privatize large parts of the state’s social safety net.
By 2005, Phillips was beset with allegations of cronyism stemming from contracts signed at both HHSC and the Texas Workforce Commission. At the time, a Houston Chronicle investigation<http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Privatization-role-reveals-ethics-gap-in-state-law-1940898.php> found he helped craft the privatization legislation in a way in which he personally profited along with a private consultant.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90723&title=More%20on%20Phillips%3A%20%E2%80%9CTrump%E2%80%99s%20unsupported%20claim%20of%20voter%20fraud%20appears%20to%20have%20Texas%20roots%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Where Voter Fraud Still Exists; If Donald Trump is looking for voter fraud, he need only look at the many attested cases of ‘voter dilution’ that rob minorities of their political power.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90721>
Posted on January 27, 2017 7:08 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90721> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brentin Mock <http://www.citylab.com/politics/2017/01/where-voter-fraud-still-exists/514475/?utm_source=SFTwitter> for CityLab.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90721&title=%E2%80%9CWhere%20Voter%20Fraud%20Still%20Exists%3B%20If%20Donald%20Trump%20is%20looking%20for%20voter%20fraud%2C%20he%20need%20only%20look%20at%20the%20many%20attested%20cases%20of%20%E2%80%98voter>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Commentary: How companies should respond to Trump’s attacks – and praises”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90719>
Posted on January 27, 2017 7:06 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90719> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bruce Freed and Charle Kolb<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-100days-corporate-america-commentary-idUSKBN1592S0> Reuters opinion:
Whether Trump has been testing messages to use as president or launching a regular practice, he has used his own “bully pulpit” to put some businesses on notice and to commend others. This approach is raising questions about what some economists call “crony capitalism” and also about quid-pro-quo politics, and it’s shaking up company executives who might otherwise be optimistic about pledges of economic growth.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90719&title=%E2%80%9CCommentary%3A%20How%20companies%20should%20respond%20to%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20attacks%20%E2%80%93%20and%20praises%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Trump Declared Candidacy for 2020 Election on Inauguration Day<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90717>
Posted on January 27, 2017 7:00 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90717> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
FEC filing<http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/569/201701209041436569/201701209041436569.pdf>.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90717&title=Trump%20Declared%20Candidacy%20for%202020%20Election%20on%20Inauguration%20Day>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Fact-check: Did 3 million undocumented immigrants vote in this year’s election?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90715>
Posted on January 27, 2017 6:59 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90715> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Reupping this<http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/nov/18/blog-posting/no-3-million-undocumented-immigrants-did-not-vote-/> from Nov. 18 Politifact/Punditfact:
Other research contradicts Phillips’ tweet.
News 21<http://votingrights.news21.com/article/election-fraud/>, a national investigative reporting project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, found just 56 cases of noncitizens voting between 2000 and 2011.
A report<http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/The%20Truth%20About%20Voter%20Fraud.pdf> by the liberal Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that most cases of noncitizens voting were accidental. “Although there are a few recorded examples in which noncitizens have apparently registered or voted, investigators have concluded that they were likely not aware that doing so was improper,” reads the 2007 report.
States that have tried to purge noncitizens from voter rolls, meanwhile, have found even government data lacking.
In 2012, Florida Governor Rick Scott’s administration started an effort trying to crack down<http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/appeals-court-rules-florida-voter-purge-violated-federal-law/2173054> on noncitizens voting by comparing driver’s license data against voter rolls.
Through this process the Florida Department of State created a list of 182,000 potential noncitizens that had voted. That number was whittled down to 2,700, then to about 200 before the purge was stopped amid criticism that the data was flawed given the number of false positives — including a Brooklyn-born World War II vet<http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/jun/07/alcee-hastings/us-rep-hastings-says-floridas-noncitizen-voter-pur/>.
Ultimately, only 85 people<http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/appeals-court-rules-florida-voter-purge-violated-federal-law/2173054> were removed from the voting rolls. State officials began to pursue a second attempt at a purge in advance of the 2014 election but then abandoned that effort, too.
Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine, called Phillips’ claim “fake news.”
“There is no credible evidence I have seen to show large numbers of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections anywhere,” Hasen said. “The idea that 3 million noncitizens could have illegally voted in our elections without being detected is obscenely ludicrous.”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90715&title=%E2%80%9CFact-check%3A%20Did%203%20million%20undocumented%20immigrants%20vote%20in%20this%20year%E2%80%99s%20election%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
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/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170127/7fd03396/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170127/7fd03396/attachment.png>