[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/12/17

Wed Oct 11 20:42:20 PDT 2017

“We Asked Facebook 12 Questions About the Election, and Got 5 Answers”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95426>
Posted on October 11, 2017 8:37 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95426> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT.<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/technology/facebook-election.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=sectionfront>
One of the questions Facebook did not answer:
12.Your advertiser website lists “success stories”<https://www.facebook.com/business/success/categories/government-politics> of political campaigns that have used Facebook advertising to increase turnout and win elections. Knowing that Facebook could be used to influence election results, why did you not use a United States presidential election as an occasion to build the proper safeguards to make sure that your system was not gamed by foreign or malicious actors?
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95426&title=%E2%80%9CWe%20Asked%20Facebook%2012%20Questions%20About%20the%20Election%2C%20and%20Got%205%20Answers%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

LAT: Kobach Was Under Consideration to Replace Kelly as Head of Dept of Homeland Security<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95424>
Posted on October 11, 2017 8:31 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95424> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT:<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-neilsen-dhs-secretary-20171011-story.html>
Nielsen, who served as Kelly’s deputy at Homeland Security before following him to the White House, has experience in disaster response and started a consulting firm that gave her extensive expertise in cybersecurity, a top priority for the department.
In picking Nielsen, Trump passed over potential nominees with close ties to administration officials who favor hard-line efforts to restrict both legal and illegal immigration.
Among the people under consideration, according to a former Homeland Security official, were Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who is heading Trump’s voter fraud commission and who has been a leader in the immigration-restriction movement, and Rep. Lou Barletta<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/government/lou-barletta-PEPLT007759-topic.html> (R-Pa.), who launched his political career as an anti-immigration mayor.
The decision to go with Nielsen indicates that Kelly, by recommending a top aide and a Homeland Security veteran, was able to exert more influence than Stephen Miller, Trump’s speechwriter and domestic policy advisor, who has pushed measures to severely restrict immigration.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95424&title=LAT%3A%20Kobach%20Was%20Under%20Consideration%20to%20Replace%20Kelly%20as%20Head%20of%20Dept%20of%20Homeland%20Security>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Menendez trial: Judge raises serious doubts about government’s case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95422>
Posted on October 11, 2017 5:19 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95422> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Gannett:<http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2017/10/11/menendez-trial-prosecution-rests-judge-hear-arguments-dismissing-charges/754258001/>
The judge overseeing U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial raised serious doubts Wednesday whether a legal theory that prosecutors have relied on to prove their case is still allowed in the wake of a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the reach of federal bribery laws, raising the prospect that some of the charges against Menendez could be dismissed.
The judge’s remarks came after the government rested its case against Menendez midday Wednesday, having called more than 30 witnesses to testify over the course of 17 trial days. Defense attorneys then argued that the judge should enter a judgment of acquittal because prosecutors had failed to present enough evidence to prove its case.
U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls suggested that language in the high court’s opinion overturning the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell requires prosecutors to show that Menendez, D-Paramus, agreed to do specific official acts on behalf of co-defendant Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor and longtime friend, in exchange for specific gifts or payments.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95422&title=%E2%80%9CMenendez%20trial%3A%20Judge%20raises%20serious%20doubts%20about%20government%E2%80%99s%20case%E2%80%9D>
Posted in bribery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>

McConnell’s Spokesperson Backpedals on McConnell Killing Blue Slips for Judges<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95420>
Posted on October 11, 2017 5:06 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95420> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Following up on this post,<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95405> HuffPost reports<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-blue-slips-trump-judges_us_59de3683e4b0b26332e87e42?section=us_politics>:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will continue to honor the blue slip rule ― an arcane but hugely consequential Senate tradition that lets lawmakers block a president’s judicial nominees from their home states ― even though a news article suggested he would get rid of it, his spokesman said.
The Weekly Standard reported Wednesday<http://www.weeklystandard.com/mitch-mcconnell-goes-to-the-mattresses-for-trumps-judicial-nominees/article/2010022> that McConnell said in an interview that Democrats would no longer be allowed to use the rule to deny some of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees a committee hearing or a vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee currently requires both home-state senators of a judicial nominee to turn in a blue slip ― literally, a blue piece of paper ― to signal support for moving forward with the nominee. Without blue slips from both senators, the nominee won’t get a hearing and the nomination is effectively dead. Blue slips amount to giving a single senator veto power over a president’s court pick.
In his interview, McConnell said that, from now on, Republicans will treat a blue slip “as simply notification of how you’re going to vote, not as an opportunity to blackball.”
The article’s author, Fred Barnes, wrote that that means the blue slip rule now “won’t be honored at all.”
But McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said McConnell was talking about his own view on blue slips, and was not saying that Republicans won’t uphold the rule anymore.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95420&title=McConnell%E2%80%99s%20Spokesperson%20Backpedals%20on%20McConnell%20Killing%20Blue%20Slips%20for%20Judges>
Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>

“20th Century Law Can’t Regulate 21st Century Technology”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95418>
Posted on October 11, 2017 4:05 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95418> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ciara Torres Spelliscy:<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/20th-century-law-cannot-regulate-21st-century-technology>
As much as fun as it is to beat up on Facebook, the problem lies far deeper than any social media platform, no matter how ubiquitous. Simply put, 20th century law is being used to regulate 21st technology. The source of that law, a Supreme Court ruling in a case called Buckley v. Valeo,<https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/75-436> is 41 years old. At the time of the decision, Microsoft was nine months old and based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the closest forerunner of what is now called the internet wouldn’t be developed for another seven years.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95418&title=%E2%80%9C20th%20Century%20Law%20Can%E2%80%99t%20Regulate%2021st%20Century%20Technology%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Obama-linked group asks for temporary injunction against Trump voter commission”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95416>
Posted on October 11, 2017 2:54 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95416> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
McClatchy:<http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article178230401.html>
A group of former Obama Administration lawyers on Wednesday moved for a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump’s voting fraud commission, saying the committee caused an “immediate blow to the proper functioning of our democracy” when it requested voter data from all 50 states without following legally mandated procedures.
The motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by Protect Democracy Project and United to Protect Democracy, cited reports of people withdrawing their voter registration in response to the Trump commission’s request for information — proof, the motion argues, that the court should stop the Trump group from collecting the data now before it does more harm.
The motion also argues that the requests “may increase the vulnerability of voter registration systems to hackers” and, contrary to federal law, gives Protect Democracy insufficient time to respond and mobilize the public to its actions.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95416&title=%E2%80%9CObama-linked%20group%20asks%20for%20temporary%20injunction%20against%20Trump%20voter%20commission%E2%80%9D>

Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
UCI Law SCOTUS Preview Featuring Professors Chacon, Litman, Weinstein and Me (Talking Gil and Husted)<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95414>
Posted on October 11, 2017 2:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95414> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95414&title=UCI%20Law%20SCOTUS%20Preview%20Featuring%20Professors%20Chacon%2C%20Litman%2C%20Weinstein%20and%20Me%20(Talking%20Gil%20and%20Husted)>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=FQ_gQ2uT314

Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Conference at Harvard November 8th: Gerrymandering, Redistricting, and American Democracy<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95412>
Posted on October 11, 2017 2:38 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95412> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Announcement via email:
On November 8, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation is holding a day-long conference on “Gerrymandering, Redistricting, and American Democracy”.  As the Supreme Court considers the most important case on political gerrymandering in a generation, join us for a convening of scholars, practitioners, and activists from around the country as we seek to understand a path forward on redistricting reform. Our panelists will provide unique insight into the history of gerrymandering, the role of race in redistricting today, the current crisis of the Census, and will examine the landscape for reform. We also invite you to join us in the evening for a reception and Forum entitled “Redistricting and Representation” at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences<https://www.amacad.org/content/events/eventOverview.aspx?e=10378>.
The conference is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. You can register and receive a ticket via Eventbrite.<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harvard-conference-on-gerrymandering-redistricting-and-democracy-tickets-37853844869?utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=new_event_email&utm_term=viewmyevent_button>
For an updated agenda, please visit our website event page<https://ash.harvard.edu/event/gerrymandering-redistricting-and-american-democracy-conference>. We’ll be updating this page as new speakers are announced.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95412&title=Conference%20at%20Harvard%20November%208th%3A%20%20Gerrymandering%2C%20Redistricting%2C%20and%20American%20Democracy>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Sociologists Respond to Chief Justice Roberts’ Gill Comment About “Sociological Gobbledygook”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95410>
Posted on October 11, 2017 2:36 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95410> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ouch:<http://www.asanet.org/news-events/asa-news/asa-president-eduardo-bonilla-silva-responds-chief-justice-john-roberts>
Dear Chief Justice John Roberts:
I write today on behalf of the American Sociological Association, the nation’s largest scholarly professional association of sociologists, to respond to a comment you made during oral arguments on Tuesday, October 3rd for the case of Gill v. Whitford. You said: “It may be simply my educational background, but I can only describe it [social science data] as sociological gobbledygook.”
We were pleased to learn that Justices Kagan and Sotomayor subsequently expressed concern about your statement and spoke to the value of social science measures.  In this letter, we provide additional context for understanding the empirical nature of social scientific data and the ways it has served the national interests.
In an era when facts are often dismissed as “fake news,” we are particularly concerned about a person of your stature suggesting to the public that scientific measurement is not valid or reliable and that expertise should not be trusted.  What you call “gobbledygook” is rigorous and empirical.  The following are just a few examples of the contributions of sociological research to American society that our members offered in response to your comment…
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95410&title=Sociologists%20Respond%20to%20Chief%20Justice%20Roberts%E2%80%99%20Gill%20Comment%20About%20%E2%80%9CSociological%20Gobbledygook%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

--
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/20171012/696a4eb0/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/20171012/696a4eb0/attachment.png>