[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/18/18

Mon Dec 17 21:41:30 PST 2018

“Voter Suppression and Racial Targeting: In Facebook’s and Twitter’s Words”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102899>
Posted on December 17, 2018 9:38 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102899> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/business/russia-voter-suppression-facebook-twitter.html>

A report submitted to a Senate committee about Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/us/politics/russia-2016-influence-campaign.html?module=inline> says that social media companies made misleading or evasive claims about whether the efforts tried to discourage voting or targeted African-Americans on their platforms.

The report<https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/533-read-report-internet-research-agency/7871ea6d5b7bedafbf19/optimized/full.pdf#page=1>, which is based largely on data provided to Congress by companies such as Facebook and Twitter, was produced for the Senate Intelligence Committee by New Knowledge, a cybersecurity company, along with researchers at Columbia University and Canfield Research. It found the Russian campaign focused on influencing African-Americans and also tried to suppress voting.

Researchers wrote that the platforms “may have misrepresented or evaded in some of their statements to Congress” and that “it is unclear whether these answers were the result of faulty or lacking analysis, or a more deliberate evasion.”
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102899&title=%E2%80%9CVoter%20Suppression%20and%20Racial%20Targeting%3A%20In%20Facebook%E2%80%99s%20and%20Twitter%E2%80%99s%20Words%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Chili’s responds to being name-checked during Twitter feud over North Carolina House race”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102896>
Posted on December 17, 2018 9:32 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102896> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The most 2018 story<https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/chilis-responds-to-being-name-checked-during-twitter-feud-over-north-carolina-house-race> so far.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102896&title=%E2%80%9CChili%E2%80%99s%20responds%20to%20being%20name-checked%20during%20Twitter%20feud%20over%20North%20Carolina%20House%20race%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election law "humor"<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52>

“Wisconsin’s early voting limit challenged in federal court”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102894>
Posted on December 17, 2018 9:16 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102894> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/wisconsins-early-voting-limit-challenged-in-federal-court/>

The fight over restricting early voting in Wisconsin returned to federal court Monday, three days after Gov. Scott Walker signed into law a new limit passed during a lame-duck legislative session.

A coalition of liberal groups, with the support of former Democratic U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, asked a federal judge to block implementation of the early voting restrictions. The same judge in 2016 struck down a similar two-week early voting limitation as unconstitutional.

Attorneys for the groups argued that Republicans called the lame-duck session “as part of a partisan attempt to retain and regain power” and the early voting limitation was “in direct violation” of the court’s 2016 order.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102894&title=%E2%80%9CWisconsin%E2%80%99s%20early%20voting%20limit%20challenged%20in%20federal%20court%E2%80%9D>
Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

ELB Post Twitter Link Tweeted by Russian Troll in 2016 Elections<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102890>
Posted on December 17, 2018 9:13 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102890> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here:<https://russiatweets.com/tweet/1223004>

[https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-12-17-at-9.10.03-PM.png]<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-12-17-at-9.10.03-PM.png>

And some more mentioning me:

[https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-12-17-at-9.12.32-PM.png]<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-12-17-at-9.12.32-PM.png>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102890&title=ELB%20Post%20Twitter%20Link%20Tweeted%20by%20Russian%20Troll%20in%202016%20Elections>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
With North Carolina Supreme Court Now Holding Democratic Majority, Republicans in North Carolina Legislature Seek to Move Partisan Gerrymandering Case to Federal Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102888>
Posted on December 17, 2018 6:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102888> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Li has the details in this twitter thread<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/1074821943952584706>:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/757344014/mail_bigger.jpeg]<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
Michael Li<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
✔@mcpli<https://twitter.com/mcpli>

<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/1074821943952584706>

North Carolina Republicans have removed the state-court partisan gerrymandering case challenging the state's legislative maps to federal court. Notice of removal here: https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legal-work/2018-12-14-1-Notice%20of%20Removal.pdf …<https://t.co/cNnNyci9bW> #fairmaps<https://twitter.com/hashtag/fairmaps?src=hash> #ncpol<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ncpol?src=hash> 1/
<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1074821943952584706>
18<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1074821943952584706>
4:21 PM - Dec 17, 2018<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/1074821943952584706>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
See Michael Li's other Tweets<https://twitter.com/mcpli>

Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>

This seems like a pretty transparent attempt to avoid getting the now-Democratic majority North Carolina Supreme Court to weigh in on the partisan gerrymandering question.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102888&title=With%20North%20Carolina%20Supreme%20Court%20Now%20Holding%20Democratic%20Majority%2C%20Republicans%20in%20North%20Carolina%20Legislature%20Seek%20to%20Move%20Partisan%20Gerrymandering%20Case%20to%20Federal%20Court>
Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

Read the Order Establishing the Rules for the Hearing on Potential Election Fraud in #NC09 Race<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102886>
Posted on December 17, 2018 6:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102886> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here.<https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2018/12/17/5c1825eee4b0432554c34e4f.pdf>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102886&title=Read%20the%20Order%20Establishing%20the%20Rules%20for%20the%20Hearing%20on%20Potential%20Election%20Fraud%20in%20%23NC09%20Race>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Opinion: Protect Michigan nonprofit donors’ privacy”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102884>
Posted on December 17, 2018 5:44 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102884> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sean Parnell:<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2018/12/16/opinion-protect-michigan-nonprofit-donors-privacy/2313663002/>

The bill would do nothing to roll back Michigan’s laws mandating disclosure of campaign contributions or inhibit investigations of fraudulent practices by nonprofits. The only thing the Personal Privacy Protection Act does is prevent state and local officials from abusing their power by demanding the donor lists of charities and other nonprofits, as well as prohibit disclosure of personal information connected to a nonprofit that may come into government possession.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102884&title=%E2%80%9COpinion%3A%20Protect%20Michigan%20nonprofit%20donors%E2%80%99%20privacy%E2%80%9D>
Posted in tax law and election law<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

“Judicial Review in Troubled Times: Stabilizing Democracy in a Second Best World”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102882>
Posted on December 17, 2018 5:41 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102882> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sam Issacharoff has posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3298966> on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Debates over the role of judicial review in a constitutional democracy gravitate to one of two poles. Either the debates are framed in terms of the power of courts countering the outputs of a well-ordered legislative process, or they are framed in terms of the dominant rights commands of minorities ever vulnerable to the tyranny of the majority.

This Article parts company with the customary debate in two ways. First, the inquiry focuses on the structures of democratic governance rather than the relation between a governing majority and the rights of disfavored individuals or minorities. Second, and contrary to the conditions assumed by critics of judicial review such as Jeremy Waldron and Richard Bellamy, the aim here is to look directly to the “contaminated” domain of our lived experience in the moment rather than an idealized vision of well-ordered parliamentary sovereignty. Especially in a time of populist challenges to the institutionalization of democratic politics, the role of constitutional courts as potential brakes on the politics of immediacy takes on greater and greater significance.

Relying on examples from jurisdictions around the world, this Article sets out three types of interventions ranging in terms of how problematic they are for democratic governance. First is the use of constitutional review to prevent entrenched officeholders from undermining their electoral accountability, as seen in places are far removed as Taiwan and North Carolina. The second is the role of court interventions to bolster what is termed the “soft power” of democracy in which institutional norms compel a politics of negotiation and compromise. Finally, there is the temptation for courts to substitute judicial authority for failing state competence of democracies in general, and of the legislative branches in particular.

In each case, judicial review is examined to determine to what extent the judiciary can serve as an institutional buffer in protecting democracy against systemic failure, sometimes on matters that may pertain to fundamental liberties, but more often on questions of the exercise of governmental authority. The question here is whether in times of challenge to democratic functioning the judiciary may play a stabilizing role in warding off temporary political expedients that threaten governmental integrity. The term “stabilization” invokes the role of a central banker charged with maintaining fiscal integrity in the face of inevitable partisan demands for unsustainable short-term returns. In turn, the inquiry is whether judicial interventions in defense of the structural integrity of democratic rule can be thought in similar terms of conservatorship by a semi-independent entity and, in turn, how this institutional role of the judiciary might be utilized in times of systemic stress.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102882&title=%E2%80%9CJudicial%20Review%20in%20Troubled%20Times%3A%20Stabilizing%20Democracy%20in%20a%20Second%20Best%20World%E2%80%9D>
Posted in theory<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=41>

“Tulsi Gabbard’s birthplace could create political fodder in national campaign”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102880>
Posted on December 17, 2018 5:37 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102880> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Star Advertiser<http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/12/16/hawaii-news/gabbards-birthplace-could-create-political-fodder-in-national-campaign/?HSA=f4b61540b7f8f343e3186f4294652d864c6e03ff>:

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was born a U.S. citizen and served two tours of duty in the Middle East as a member of the Army National Guard. She’s served in elective office — as a member of the Hawaii Legislature, Honolulu City Council and U.S. House of Representatives — for a combined 10 years.

So it might seem odd that her eligibility to run for president of the United States, something she’s giving serious thought to, would ever be called into question. But being born in American Samoa, where Gabbard lived until the age of 2, elicits unsettled constitutional questions about what it means to be a “natural-born citizen,” a requirement for the presidency, according to legal scholars.

And while a broad consensus holds that Gabbard is indeed eligible to run, that gray area within constitutional law could become a political issue for the Hawaii representative if she does seek the national political spotlight.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102880&title=%E2%80%9CTulsi%20Gabbard%E2%80%99s%20birthplace%20could%20create%20political%20fodder%20in%20national%20campaign%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

Maine: “Rep. Poliquin to appeal decision that upheld ranked-choice voting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102878>
Posted on December 17, 2018 5:31 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102878> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Press-Herald:<https://www.pressherald.com/2018/12/17/poliquin-appeals-ranked-choice-voting-case/>

Rep. Bruce Poliquin is appealing a recent federal judge’s rejection of his lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of ranked-choice voting.

Poliquin and three other residents of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District filed a notice of appeal on Monday, four days after a U.S. District Court judge dismissed his constitutional arguments<https://www.pressherald.com/2018/12/13/federal-judge-rejects-poliquins-constitutional-challenge-of-ranked-choice-voting/?rel=related>and refused to order a new election. The case will go before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Poliquin, a two-term Republican, lost the 2nd District election to Democratic Representative-elect Jared Golden following the nation’s first use of ranked-choice voting to decide a congressional race. Poliquin trails Golden by more than 3,500 votes and has sought to overturn an election process that his campaign claims was confusing for many voters and potentially violated the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker rejected those arguments in a strongly worded, 30-page opinion. Walker ruled that nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires members of Congress be elected by “a plurality” of votes – rather than the majority required under ranked-choice voting.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D102878&title=Maine%3A%20%E2%80%9CRep.%20Poliquin%20to%20appeal%20decision%20that%20upheld%20ranked-choice%20voting%E2%80%9D>
Posted in alternative voting systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

--
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/>
[signature_264165597]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20181218/dc79726e/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/20181218/dc79726e/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 189770 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20181218/dc79726e/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 252458 bytes
Desc: image003.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20181218/dc79726e/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 16298 bytes
Desc: image004.jpg
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20181218/dc79726e/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.png
Type: image/png
Size: 92163 bytes
Desc: image005.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20181218/dc79726e/attachment-0003.png>