[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/21/17

Mon Mar 20 21:17:31 PDT 2017

“F.B.I. Is Investigating Trump’s Russia Ties, Comey Confirms”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91714>
Posted on March 20, 2017 9:15 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91714> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Tuesday’s NYT A1:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/us/politics/fbi-investigation-trump-russia-comey.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>
The F.B.I.<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org> director, James B. Comey, took the extraordinary step on Monday of announcing that the agency is investigating whether members of President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Mr. Comey’s testimony before the House I<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/us/politics/intelligence-committee-russia-donald-trump.html>ntelligence C<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/us/politics/intelligence-committee-russia-donald-trump.html>ommittee<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/us/politics/intelligence-committee-russia-donald-trump.html> created a treacherous political moment for Mr. Trump, who has insisted that “Russia is fake news” that was cooked up by his political opponents to undermine his presidency. Mr. Comey placed a criminal investigation at the doorstep of the White House and said officers would pursue it “no matter how long that takes.”
Joined by Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, Mr. Comey also dismissed Mr. Trump’s claim that he was wiretapped<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/us/politics/trump-obama-tap-phones.html> by his predecessor during the campaign, a sensational accusation that has served as a distraction in the public debate over Russian election interference. Taken together, the two provided the most definitive statement yet that Mr. Trump’s accusation was false.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

President Trump Blames High Drug Prices on “Campaign Contributions”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91712>
Posted on March 20, 2017 9:08 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91712> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
From today’s rally <http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/20/trump-recounts-campaign-promises-during-rally-but-remains-silent-on-comey-news/> in Kentucky:
“I happen to like a lot Sen. Rand Paul. I like him. He’s a good guy. I look forward to working with him so we can get his bill passed in some form so we can pass massive tax reform, which we can’t do until this happens. We got to get it done, for a lot of reasons, but that’s one of them. It’s important to realize how we got to Obamacare in the first place. Thursday is our chance to end the Obamacare disaster. Then we get to tax cuts. Remember, we are going to negotiate and it’s going to go to the Senate, and back and forth. The end result is going to be wonderful. Once this is done, we are going to work on bringing down the cost of medicine by having a fair and competitive bidding process. The cost of medicine in this country is outrageous. Why? Same pill. Same manufacturer. You know why? Campaign contributions, who knows, but somebody is getting very rich.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“New Yorkers who don’t vote would pay $10 fine under assemblywoman’s bill”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91710>
Posted on March 20, 2017 8:57 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91710> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYDN reports.<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-yorkers-don-vote-pay-10-proposed-bill-article-1.3001499?cid=bitly>
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Posted in voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

“Beyond Corruption Symposium: New Approaches to Money in Politics”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91708>
Posted on March 20, 2017 5:34 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91708> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Allie Boldt<http://www.demos.org/blog/3/20/17/beyond-corruption-symposium-new-approaches-money-politics> for Demos:
Today the Election Law Journal published Beyond Corruption<http://online.liebertpub.com/toc/elj/16/1>, a peer-reviewed symposium on money in politics and the Supreme Court. The symposium was guest-edited by Professor David Schultz<https://www.hamline.edu/faculty-staff/david-schultz/> and contains pieces by several Demos attorneys, including a Foreword by Demos President Heather McGhee. Other contributors include Blair Bowie<https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/profiles/501-blair-bowie-l17/profiles/scholars.php>, Adam Bonica<http://web.stanford.edu/~bonica/>, Heath Brown<http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/heath-brown>, Allegra Chapman<http://www.commoncause.org/about/staff-directory/allegra-chapman.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/>, Stephen Gottlieb<http://www.albanylaw.edu/faculty/pages/faculty-listing.aspx?ind=Gottlieb,%20Stephen%20E.>, Timothy Kuhner<http://law.gsu.edu/profile/timothy-k-kuhner/>, Kate Shaw<http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/directory/kate-shaw>, Abdi Soltani<https://www.aclunc.org/staff/abdi-soltani>, and Christopher Witko<http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/poli/christopher-witko>. In the coming weeks, several of these contributors will reflect on their pieces here on Policy Shop.
The Supreme Court’s approach<http://www.demos.org/publication/breaking-vicious-cycle-rescuing-our-democracy-and-our-economy-transforming-supreme-court> to money in politics has profoundly shaped our political world: in which businesses and wealthy donors can translate their economic resources directly into political power, distorting policy outcomes in their favor. Over the past forty plus years<http://www.demos.org/publication/buckley-v-valeo-40>, the Court has decimated many<http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/imce/Supreme%20Court%20Big%20Money%20Attacks.png> attempts to limit the donor class’s dominance on our political system. As Demos’ recent Court Cash report reveals, large portions of money in elections are directly attributable<http://www.demos.org/publication/court-cash-2016-election-money-resulting-directly-supreme-court-rulings> to Supreme Court decisions – including $3 billion in spending on the 2016 elections. In striking down protections against big money, the Court has reasoned that lawmakers can only address one particular problem when enacting such protections: quid pro quo corruption (essentially, bribery) or its appearance.
Despite his phony rhetoric about getting big money out of politics, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, a radical judge whose record<http://www.demos.org/publication/judge-gorsuch%E2%80%99s-extreme-views-could-undermine-urgently-needed-money-politics-reforms> suggests he could push the Court even further to the right on money in politics, and gut the few protections against big money that have survived Supreme Court review thus far.
But the connection between Donald Trump and the Supreme Court’s money in politics decisions runs even deeper than Supreme Court nominees. In her Foreword<http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/elj.2017.0430>, Heather McGhee details four ways the Court’s money in politics case law contributed to Trump’s election as POTUS in the first place…
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
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http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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