[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/8/18

Wed Feb 7 19:53:32 PST 2018

“8 years later: How Citizens United changed campaign finance”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97397>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:48 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97397> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bob Biersack<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/02/how-citizens-united-changed-campaign-finance/> for Open Secrets.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Watch Video of the Panel on Justice Scalia’s Legacy at National Constitution Center with Kannon Shanmugam, Elizabeth Wydra, Jeff Rosen and Me<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97394>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:46 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97394> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

https://youtu.be/Br_qx-zOCOc

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Posted in Scalia<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=123>

“Group picks Alaska to challenge unlimited campaign donations”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97392>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:39 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97392> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Group-picks-Alaska-to-challenge-unlimited-12559354.php>

A national group is focusing on Alaska in a bid to get the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit a 2010 decision that upended how campaigns are run in this country.

The court decision paved the way for corporations and unions to make unlimited independent expenditures, and in Alaska, was viewed by state officials as likely rendering several provisions of law prohibiting or limiting certain contributions unconstitutional.

Washington, D.C.-based Equal Citizens wants to put that interpretation to the test but it could face an uphill battle.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Lawsuit Filed Over Arkansas’ Revamped Voter ID Law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97390>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:30 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97390> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

VOA:<https://www.voanews.com/a/lawsuit-arkansas-voter-id-law/4243175.html>

An Arkansas resident asked a judge Wednesday to strike down a new state law requiring voters show photo identification before casting a ballot, arguing the measure causes the same problems as a nearly identical state voter ID law struck down four years ago.

The lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court is challenging the measure’s constitutionality ahead of its first enforcement statewide in Arkansas’ May 22 primary. Early voting for the primary is set to begin May 7.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

Full Employment for Election Lawyers Dep’t: NC Legislature Files Emergency 4th Circuit Appeal to Reverse Trial Court Decision on Primaries for Appellate Judges<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97387>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97387> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Following up on this post,<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97277> the NC Legislature has now sought emergency relief<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/NC-Democratic-Party-v.-Phillip-Berger-Appeal-18-1150-Emergency-Motion-for-Stay-of-Preliminary-Injunction.pdf> in the 4th Circuit.
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Posted in judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>, political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, primaries<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

“Pa. Supreme Court releases gerrymandering opinion: 2011 map violates ‘free and equal’ elections”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97385>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:17 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97385> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Philly Inquirer:<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/pa-supreme-court-releases-gerrymandering-opinion-2011-map-violates-free-and-equal-elections-20180207.html?mobi=true>

Pennsylvania’s congressional map, as adopted in 2011, violates the state constitution’s guarantee that “elections shall be free and equal,” the state Supreme Court said Wednesday in an opinion explaining its gerrymandering order overturning the map more than two weeks ago.

“An election corrupted by extensive, sophisticated gerrymandering and partisan dilution of votes is not ‘free and equal,’ ” Justice Debra McCloskey Todd wrote for the majority. In such circumstances, a “power, civil or military,” to wit, the General Assembly, has in fact “interfere[d] to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.”

The opinion came just two days before the deadline for lawmakers to pass a new congressional district map and send it to Gov. Wolf for approval, after the high court declared Pennsylvania’s congressional map an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pa-supreme-court-strikes-down-congressional-map-as-unconstitutional-orders-change-before-may-primary-20180122.html>, drawn to benefit Republicans at Democrats’ expense.

In the opinion, Todd noted a variety of factors that have traditionally played a role in redistricting, such as preserving some previous district lines, protecting incumbent lawmakers, and maintaining a state’s political balance.

But those factors should be subordinate to politically neutral criteria and the fact that “gerrymandering for unfair partisan political advantage” would violate the state Constitution.

You can find 139 pages of the majority opinion and maps at this link,<http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-1-2018majorityopinion.pdf?cb=1> as well as a concurring and dissenting opinion<http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-1-2018concdissopinion.pdf?cb=1> and two<http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-1-2018dissentingopinion1.pdf?cb=1> dissenting opinions<http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-1-2018dissentingopinion2.pdf?cb=1>.

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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>
“Russians penetrated U.S. voter systems, says top U.S. official”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97383>
Posted on February 7, 2018 7:03 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97383> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NBC News:<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/russians-penetrated-u-s-voter-systems-says-top-u-s-n845721>

The U.S. official in charge of protecting American elections from hacking says the Russians successfully penetrated the voter registration rolls of several U.S. states prior to the 2016 presidential election.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Jeanette Manfra<https://www.dhs.gov/person/jeanette-manfra>, the head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, said she couldn’t talk about classified information publicly, but in 2016, “We saw a targeting of 21 states<https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hacking-of-america/federal-government-tells-21-states-election-systems-targeted-hackers-n804031> and an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.”

Jeh Johnson, who was DHS secretary during the Russian intrusions<https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-officials-putin-personally-involved-u-s-election-hack-n696146>, said, “2016 was a wake-up call and now it’s incumbent upon states and the Feds to do something about it before our democracy is attacked again.”…

There is no evidence that any of the registration rolls were altered in any fashion, according to U.S. officials.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

--
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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