[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/1/17

[Rick Hasen]

“Brad Smith: Prevent the reckless restructuring of the FEC”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92316>
Posted on May 1, 2017 7:30 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92316> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brad Smith <http://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20170501/brad-smith-prevent-reckless-restructuring-of-fec> in the Columbus Dispatch:
But today the FEC is under attack from members of Congress whose misguided proposal to “reform” the agency could take us back to the Watergate era. A bill co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Renacci, an Ohio Republican, would shrink the agency from six commissioners to five. That may sound like a minor change, but it has huge implications.
Right now, Republicans and Democrats have equal influence over the commission. With six commissioners, at least one vote from each side is needed to write new rules or open investigations. In the five-commissioner agency envisioned by Renacci, one party will consistently trump the other.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>


Supreme Court Again Takes No Action in North Carolina Voting Case<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92312>
Posted on May 1, 2017 6:36 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92312> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
This is the monster voting case up on a cert. petition from the 4th Circuit.  Nothing in today’s SCOTUS order. <https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/050117zor_6537.pdf>
Pending is not only the cert. petition itself, but the governor and AG’s motion to dismiss the case, and the Legislature’s motion to intervene to keep the case alive.
It will likely be relisted for a fourth conference (next conference May 11, with likely announcements May 15).
The more times it is listed, the more I suspect we will see a denial, with a dissent from denial. Then again, the additional fight between the executive and legislative branches in North Carolina makes things more uncertain.
UPDATE: The Court also did not decide the North Carolina gerrymandering case today.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“How Trump Could Get Fired”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92310>
Posted on May 1, 2017 6:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92310> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Evan Osnos <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/how-trump-could-get-fired> for the New Yorker.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Bauer Ties Campus Free Speech Rights to Campaign Finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92308>
Posted on May 1, 2017 6:17 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92308> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2017/05/disagreements-speech-limits/>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


“McDonnell: If I could go back, I would not have taken gifts”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92306>
Posted on April 30, 2017 7:32 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92306> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Hill:<http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/331322-mcdonell-if-i-could-go-back-i-would-not-have-taken-gifts>
Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell<http://thehill.com/person/bob-mcdonnell> (R) in a new interview broadcast Sunday evening said if he could go back to his time in office, he would not have taken the gifts that led to a career-rocking scandal.
“If I do it over again, I was governor, I wouldn’t take any gifts. I didn’t need them,” McDonnell tells “60 Minutes.”
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


Trump: Justice Gorsuch Getting to Decide “Hundreds” of 5-4 Cases “A Great Legacy”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92302>
Posted on April 30, 2017 7:18 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92302> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Washington Times:<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/30/trump-to-stick-with-conservative-list-for-next-sup/>
President Trump will stick with the same list of potential nominees for the next Supreme Court vacancy, he told The Washington Times in an exclusive interview in which he also waved aside the lack of a honeymoon from Capitol Hill, saying Republicans are “going to get there” and Democrats are still smarting over losing an election they thought they couldn’t lose….

 Reflecting on his first weeks, the businessman turned statesman took pride in having upended traditional procedures in Washington. He said he has already notched foreign policy successes that eluded Mr. Obama — such as the release of Egyptian-American charity worker Aya Hijazi from detention in Egypt — and has made his mark at home with the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
“You’ll have hundreds of cases decided by 5-4, and you got that. So that’s a great legacy,” the president said, noting that at 49, Justice Gorsuch has decades of important decisions ahead of him.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


WI: “What game is Schimel playing?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92300>
Posted on April 29, 2017 3:03 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92300> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<http://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/blogs/real-time/2017/04/28/what-game-schimel-playing/101046352/> editorial page blog:
Just what game is Republican state Attorney General Brad Schimel playing?
His office released a memo Monday saying an investigation into allegations of voter fraud by Democrats talking on a video about bringing in people from out of state was over and that no voter fraud was found. The videos were taken by Project Veritas Action, a group run by conservative activist James O’Keefe.
 The finding, issued in January, came out after months of delay, thanks only to a Journal Sentinel open records request. Schimel had said last October (conveniently just before the election) that it sure looked like violations may have occurred.
Schimel repeated on Wisconsin Public Radio that the investigation was closed. But a few hours later, Schimel told conservative talk radio host Mark Belling that no, no, no, the investigation is still open. He said he planned to examine additional videos that Veritas had sent to his office.
 O’Keefe was not happy about the memo, by the way. On Thursday, he released a short video telling Schimel, “We should investigate you and you should lose your job.”
Schimel’s spokesman Johnny Koremenos on Friday said the memo had been released in error. He declined to answer other questions.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


Federal Court Denies Extension of Consent Decree in Longrunning Ohio Election Litigation<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92297>
Posted on April 29, 2017 12:10 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92297> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
See this order<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/NEOCH_Motion-to-Extend-Denied.pdf> in the NEOCH case.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Three Divergent Election-Law Decisions in the Early Trump Administration”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92295>
Posted on April 29, 2017 12:08 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92295> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Derek Muller has written this piece<https://illinoislawreview.org/symposium/first-100-days/three-divergent-election-law-decisions-in-the-early-trump-administration/> for an Illinois Law Review symposium<https://illinoislawreview.org/first-100-days/> on President Trump’s first 100 days. See also this student symposium piece<https://illinoislawreview.org/symposium/first-100-days/the-myth-of-millions/> on the voter fraud myth.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Surge in LLC contributions brings more mystery about true donors”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92293>
Posted on April 29, 2017 12:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92293> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Open Secrets:<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/04/surge-in-llc-contributions-more-mystery/>
Donald Trump’s inaugural committee did well by almost any standard: Doubling<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/04/250-donors-shelled-out-100k-or-more-for-trumps-inauguration/> the previous record for cash raised to fund festivities around a new president’s swearing-in, it took in contributions from every major sector of the economy, and from donors who had steered clear of his campaign prior to the election.
The committee also received about $10.6 million — or about 10 percent of its total raised — from roughly 60 limited liability companies, or LLCs — structures often set up by small businesses that provide favorable tax treatment while also protecting their owners’ assets.
But some exist mainly to mask people’s identities.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


“Voting Rights on Trial on the Bayou”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92291>
Posted on April 29, 2017 12:03 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92291> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Atlantic:<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/voting-rights-at-large-voting-louisiana/524691/?utm_source=twb>
In the half-century since the parish moved to an at-large system, only one black judge, Juan Pickett, has ever been elected to the 32nd District Court. That he ran unopposed has been taken by state officials as proof of a black candidate’s ability to win elections. Yet, the previous judge in that seat, Timothy Ellender, stepped down after years of incidents: He wore blackface<http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/lafourche-terrebonne/judges-bizarre-behavior-gets-couple-new-trial-in-botched-gallbladder-claim/226614313> and prison shackles to a Halloween party—the state Supreme Court sent him afterward to racial-sensitivity training<https://www.lasc.org/opinions/2009/09O0736.opn.pdf>—and engaged in behavior so bizarre as to constitute a sustained legal <http://abovethelaw.com/2016/06/judge-engaged-in-bizarre-and-disturbing-behavior/> miscarriage of justice<http://abovethelaw.com/2016/06/judge-engaged-in-bizarre-and-disturbing-behavior/>. Pickett’s success, then, really seems to highlight the almost absurd sequence of events that had to take place for just one black victory.
To be sure, Louisiana state officials characterize the NAACP lawsuit, which LDF lawyers are arguing in court this week, as a weak case at best. They cite that the black minority is neither large nor compact enough to constitute an aggrieved voting block as described in VRA requirements. But the NAACP and LDF argue that their objections are undermined by the timing of the at-large shift, as well as the fact that other parish-wide voter schemes passed at the same time—like a 1969 bond vote restricted to property owners—have been considered unconstitutional by the nation’s highest courts<https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/395/701/case.html>. According to testimony in the Terrebonne Parish Branch NAACP, et al. v. Edwards, et al. trial this week from historian Allan J. Lichtman, black Terrebonne Parish residents also successfully sued to stop at-large school-district elections in the 1970s. He said the DOJ has since found that coherent black districts can be made in the parish, despite the state rejecting attempts to do so. If that’s validated by the court on Friday, it could trigger an at-large voting ban.
The implications for this case go beyond the judicial ramifications of having a representative elected court. The fact of the matter is that in the South, white voters simply don’t vote for candidates favored by black voters, and in places witha majority of white voters, like Terrebonne Parish, perhaps the easiest way to lose an election is to be endorsed by black voters. This sort of “racially polarized voting” is one of the core triggers and purposes of the VRA, and it’s getting worse 52 years out from its passage, not better<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/racially-polarized-voting-is-getting-extreme-in-the-south.html>. While it seems a minor brushfire over a district court, the decision in the NAACP lawsuit is yet another test of the ability of the courts to enforce the spirit of the VRA.
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


“Democracy Fails the Turing Test”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92289>
Posted on April 28, 2017 4:20 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92289> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs.<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/democracy-fails-turing-test>
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


On 2-1 Vote NC Judges Put Republican Changes to NC Election Board on Hold<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92287>
Posted on April 28, 2017 2:32 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92287> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Next hearing <https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/858070784618643456> May 10.
But this freezes the status quo.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Va. Gov. McAuliffe says he has broken U.S. record for restoring voting rights”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92285>
Posted on April 28, 2017 1:21 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92285> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/va-gov-mcauliffe-says-he-has-broken-us-record-for-restoring-voting-rights/2017/04/27/55b5591a-2b8b-11e7-be51-b3fc6ff7faee_story.html?utm_term=.3864a1ef551b>
Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Thursday that he had broken the record for restoring voting rights to convicted felons, calling it his “proudest achievement” as governor.
McAuliffe (D) said he had individually restored rights to 156,221 Virginians, surpassing the previous record-holder by a nose. As governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011, Charlie Crist restored voting rights to 155,315 felons, according to figures that McAuliffe’s office obtained from Florida.
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Posted in felon voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>


“Stephen Spaulding Returns to Common Cause as Chief of Strategy and External Relations”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92283>
Posted on April 28, 2017 9:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92283> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:<http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/stephen-spaulding-returns-to-common-cause.html>
Common Cause announced today that Stephen Spaulding will be returning to Common Cause in May as Chief of Strategy and External Relations. He departs the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week after serving as Special Counsel to FEC Commissioner Ann M. Ravel, an outspoken critic of the agency’s dysfunction.
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Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>


--
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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