[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/13/17

Thu Jul 13 07:23:29 PDT 2017

“The GOP Quest to Find Voter Fraud Draws Backlash”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93812>
Posted on July 13, 2017 7:13 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93812> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
TIME reports.<http://time.com/4856223/voter-fraud-backlash/>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Trump Jr.’s Emails Gain Attention as FEC Eyes Foreign Influence Issue”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93810>
Posted on July 13, 2017 7:09 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93810> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ken Doyle reports<https://www.bna.com/trump-jrs-emails-n73014461616/> for Bloomberg BNA.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

Second Circuit Grants Sheldon Silver New Trial Based on McDonnell-Linked Instructional Error<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93808>
Posted on July 13, 2017 7:00 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93808> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Opinion:<http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/c8a49406-8ba5-4da0-8920-9efb81d01c50/1/doc/16-1615_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/c8a49406-8ba5-4da0-8920-9efb81d01c50/1/hilite/>
After Silver had been convicted and sentenced, the Supreme Court issued its decision in McDonnell v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2355 (2016), which clarified the definition of an “official act” in honest services fraud and extortion charges. The Supreme Court, vacating the conviction of former Governor Robert McDonnell of Virginia, held that “an ‘official act’ is a decision or action on a ‘question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding or controversy’” involving “a formal exercise of governmental power.” Id. at 2371–72.    Silver now appeals from his judgment of conviction and argues, primarily, that the District Court’s jury instructions defining an official act as “any action taken or to be taken under color of official authority” was erroneous under McDonnell. He additionally challenges the sufficiency of the evidence on all counts of conviction, arguing, among other things, that his money laundering conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1957 required the Government to trace “dirty” funds comingled with “clean” funds.
Though we reject Silver’s sufficiency challenges, we hold that the District Court’s instructions on honest services fraud and extortion do not comport with McDonnell and are therefore in error. We further hold that this error was not harmless because it is not clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have reached the same conclusion if properly instructed, as is required by law for the verdict to stand.
Accordingly, we VACATE the District Court’s judgment of conviction on all counts and REMAND the cause to the District Court for such further proceedings as may be appropriate in the circumstances and consistent with this opinion.
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Posted in bribery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>

“Online ads offer legal option for U.S. election meddling”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93805>
Posted on July 12, 2017 7:51 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93805> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
David Ingram<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-facebook-idUSKBN19Y01P?il=0> for Reuters:
The laws that prohibit foreign nationals from spending money to influence U.S. elections do not prevent them from lawfully buying some kinds of political ads on Facebook and other online networks, campaign finance lawyers said.
The omission of online ads could be a potential hurdle for those investigating alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election, according to the campaign finance lawyers, who are not involved in the probes.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, social media and social protests<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>

“Issue One statement on campaign finance related-riders in House Appropriations Committee markup of government funding bill”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93803>
Posted on July 12, 2017 7:48 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93803> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:<https://www.issueone.org/issue-one-statement-campaign-finance-related-riders-house-appropriations-committee-markup/>
Remember when language buried on page 1,599 of the 2014 end-of-year spending bill, Cromnibus, dramatically expanded how much donors could inject into national parties? And the intended consequence that a single donor can now contribute up to $474,600 per year<https://twitter.com/mjbeckel/status/882979270385127424> to joint fundraising committees?
Well, secret provisions are potentially back in Thursday’s full House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY18 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill.
These campaign finance-related riders would dramatically affect campaigns and elections that fall within the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Election Commission (FEC).
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Maine SOS Dunlap Predicts “a Lot of Head-Butting” at First Meeting of Pence-Kobach Fraud Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93801>
Posted on July 12, 2017 4:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93801> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
McClatchy:<http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article161006494.html>
Dunlap, a Democrat, said it will be important for the commission, which meets for the first time July 19, to clearly identify its goals and the information needed to reach them while at the same time effectively communicating with the public.
“The core thing is that we got to do it in a way that engenders confidence, not suspicion,” said Dunlap, who anticipates a lot of head-butting when the commission first meets.
Dunlap and Gardner, two Democrats on the commission who are familiar with each other, plan on challenging the commission’s other members.
“(Gardner and I) are going to be on the street corners with bullhorns telling people what’s going on,” Dunlap said.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“Election Law Expert Robert Bauer on What Don Jr.’s Emails Mean for the President”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93799>
Posted on July 12, 2017 4:00 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93799> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Great interview in New York<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/interview-with-robert-bauer-about-donald-trump-jr-s-emails.html>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Race, Representation, and the Voting Rights Act”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93797>
Posted on July 12, 2017 3:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93797> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Sophie Schuit and Jon Rogowski have written this article<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajps.12284/full> for AJPS.  Abstract:
Despite wide scholarly interest in the Voting Rights Act, surprisingly little is known about how its specific provisions affected Black political representation. In this article, we draw on theories of electoral accountability to evaluate the effect of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the preclearance provision, on the representation of Black interests in the 86th to 105th congresses. We find that members of Congress who represented jurisdictions subject to the preclearance requirement were substantially more supportive of civil rights–related legislation than legislators who did not represent covered jurisdictions. Moreover, we report that the effects were stronger when Black voters composed larger portions of the electorate and in more competitive districts. This result is robust to a wide range of model specifications and empirical strategies, and it persists over the entire time period under study. Our findings have especially important implications given the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

Reuters: Trump Won’t Blame Trump Jr. For Taking Meeting with Russian Government for Supposed Dirt on Hillary<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93793>
Posted on July 12, 2017 3:01 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93793> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Reuters: <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-interview-idUSKBN19X2XF>
Trump Jr. eagerly agreed to meet the woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow’s official support for his father’s presidential election campaign, according to emails the son released on Tuesday.
In the interview, Trump said he did not fault his son for holding the meeting. “I think many people would have held that meeting,” the president said.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

Politifact Rates FOX News Eric Bolling Statement About Collusion “Mostly False”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93791>
Posted on July 12, 2017 2:59 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93791> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.<http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/jul/12/eric-bolling/collusion-not-illegal-fox-news-host-eric-bolling-s/>

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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Democrats Sue Trump Campaign Over Leaked Emails Tied to Russia”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93789>
Posted on July 12, 2017 2:57 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93789> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/us/politics/trump-campaign-and-adviser-are-sued-over-leaked-emails.html>
 Two Democratic Party donors and a former party staff member have filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3893506-Invasion-of-Privacy-lawsuit-complaint-Trump.html> against President Trump’s campaign and a longtime informal adviser, Roger J. Stone Jr., accusing them of conspiring in the release of hacked Democratic emails and files that exposed their personal information to the public.
The case was organized by Protect Democracy, a government watchdog group run by former Obama administration lawyers. It filed the claim just short of a deadline under a one-year statute of limitations for privacy invasion lawsuits: WikiLeaks published the first archives of stolen Democratic National Committee emails<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/assange-timed-wikileaks-release-of-democratic-emails-to-harm-hillary-clinton.html>, which intelligence agencies say Russia hacked to harm Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and help Mr. Trump, last July 22.
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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/>
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