[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/22/17

Wed Nov 22 07:48:28 PST 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96104>
Posted on November 22, 2017 7:46 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96104> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
I wish my readers a very happy Thanksgiving with family and friends, and (I hope) a rest from the nonstop news of this country and the world.
See everyone next week!
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96104&title=Happy%20Thanksgiving!>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

North Carolina Republican Leader Contemplates Voter ID Constitutional Amendment<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96102>
Posted on November 22, 2017 7:41 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96102> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
It never ends.<http://www.thepilot.com/news/house-speaker-questions-motives-behind-redrawn-districts/article_55412c9a-ce4a-11e7-a3c4-ebe2e573abbc.html>
On the last voter id law passed by the NC general assembly, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit concluded: “Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist.”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96102&title=North%20Carolina%20Republican%20Leader%20Contemplates%20Voter%20ID%20Constitutional%20Amendment>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

Paul Smith to Argue Ohio Voter Purge Case for Plaintiffs<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96100>
Posted on November 22, 2017 7:38 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96100> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Great news<https://twitter.com/KristenClarkeJD/status/933061027092103174> for plaintiffs. Paul is one of the very best. (The original arguing attorney had to drop out for medical reasons).
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96100&title=Paul%20Smith%20to%20Argue%20Ohio%20Voter%20Purge%20Case%20for%20Plaintiffs>
Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>

“Don’t Let Candidates Know Their Donors”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96098>
Posted on November 22, 2017 7:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96098> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jerry Goldfede<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/opinion/candidates-donors.html?_r=0>r with an NYT letter to the editor.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Democrats Move Swiftly Against Conyers Amid Latest Harassment Charges”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96096>
Posted on November 21, 2017 8:26 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96096> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/politics/conyers-sexual-harassment-democrats-pelosi.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront>
Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, moved swiftly on Tuesday against the House’s longest-serving lawmaker, calling for the House Ethics Committee to investigate sexual harassment charges against Representative John Conyers Jr., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Conyers, 88, who has represented parts of the Detroit area in the House since 1965, confirmed the settlement of a wrongful termination complaint in 2015 from a staff member who had accused him of sexual harassment. But he denied that the staff member was fired for refusing to have sex with him. The settlement was first reported by BuzzFeed News on Monday<https://www.buzzfeed.com/paulmcleod/she-complained-that-a-powerful-congressman-harassed-her?utm_term=.gyqBw8yqA#.bh5y6D048>….
The calls for an investigation came as Democrats privately raised the prospect that Mr. Conyers would at least be asked to step aside from the coveted top Judiciary post. Mr. Conyers, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, also holds the venerated title of Dean of the House. But he has been a target of Democrats who are eager to bring fresh blood into the Judiciary Committee leadership for some time, three congressional officials said.
He has already handed over much of the day-to-day committee work to staff aides and other Democratic members in recent years, and has often appeared disoriented. In at least two separate occasions — once at a United Automobile Workers event in Michigan and once at a meeting of top Democrats on Capitol Hill — Mr. Conyers showed up wearing pajamas, according to two people familiar with the incidents….
However, on Tuesday morning at his home in Detroit, Mr. Conyers told The Associated Press<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-conyers-complaint-20171121-story.html> that he knew nothing about any claims of inappropriate touching and learned of the accusations from television just hours earlier. “I have been looking at these things in amazement,” he said to a reporter.
Hours later, a spokeswoman for Mr. Conyers hinted that the reporter’s questions confused him. “Congressman Conyers was under the impression the reporter was speaking of recent allegations of which he was unaware of and denied,” the spokeswoman said.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Pennsylvania Congressman Is Under F.B.I. Scrutiny, Court Records Show”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96094>
Posted on November 21, 2017 8:21 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96094> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/politics/fbi-robert-brady-campaign-finance.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0>
The F.B.I. is investigating whether Representative Robert A. Brady of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, illegally paid a political opponent $90,000 to drop out of a 2012 primary race, court documents show.
Two of Mr. Brady’s political consultants have already been charged<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/bob-brady-ken-smukler-indicted-charged-fbi-justice-department-20171024.html> in a campaign finance investigation of the congressman’s 2012 re-election. But a recently unsealed application for a search warrant suggests Mr. Brady may be a target of the inquiry.
The allegations involve payments the Brady campaign made to the campaign of Jimmie Moore, a former Municipal Court judge in Philadelphia who ended his run for Congress in February 2012.
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Posted in bribery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>

“Appeals court skeptical of privacy-focused suit against Trump voter fraud panel”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96090>
Posted on November 21, 2017 8:15 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96090> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Josh Gerstein:<https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/11/21/privacy-trump-voter-fraud-panel-258060>
An appeals court gave a skeptical reception Tuesday to a lawsuit claiming that President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission violated federal law by failing to study the privacy impact of a demand for voter rolls and other personal data on millions of Americans.
During oral arguments, a three-judge panel from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t say much about the possibility that the President’s Advisory Committee on Election Integrity violated a requirement Congress created in 2002 that federal agencies conduct a “privacy impact assessment” before embarking on collection of data on individuals.
Instead, the judges repeatedly questioned whether the organization pressing the suit — the Electronic Privacy Information Center — had legal standing to pursue the case.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“How did the DNC fall into a fundraising hole so deep as to need a life-line from the Clinton campaign to begin with?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96087>
Posted on November 21, 2017 8:11 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96087> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Dan Weiner<https://www.usnews.com/opinion/thomas-jefferson-street/articles/2017-11-21/donna-braziles-criticism-of-the-dnc-shows-need-to-fix-party-fundraising> on Donna Brazile and the DNC.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>

--
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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