[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/13/18

[Daniel Tokaji]

Springsteen fans, be sure to click the last item in today's update:

Voting Rights Restoration Project in Alabama
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100062>
Posted on July 13, 2018 9:24 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100062> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Campaign Legal Center and Southern Poverty Law Center announcement
<https://campaignlegal.org/press-releases/campaign-legal-center-launches-voting-rights-restoration-project-splc>
 on their efforts to re-enfranchise Alabama voters with felony convictions:

The Alabama Voting Rights Project will take a simple message across the
state: A felony conviction does not permanently take away a person’s right
to vote. Many Alabama residents who have paid their debts to society are
eligible to vote or to have their voting rights restored by obtaining a
Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote.

AL.com has this story
<https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/07/new_initiative_aims_to_help_th.html>
.
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Posted in felon voting
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>
“Voting Rights Group’s Lawsuit Challenges Education Amendment”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100060>
Posted on July 13, 2018 9:18 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100060> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Law.com reports
<https://www.law.com/dailybusinessreview/2018/07/13/voting-rights-groups-lawsuit-challenges-education-amendment/>:
“A constitutional amendment that could create more charter schools should
be removed from the November ballot because it is misleading, the League of
Women Voters of Florida alleged in a lawsuit.”
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Posted in direct democracy
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=62>
Ari Berman on Judge Kavanaugh and Voting Rights
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100058>
Posted on July 13, 2018 9:14 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100058> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

NYT op-ed
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/opinion/sunday/voting-rights-voter-id-kavanaugh.html>:
“The threat of voter disenfranchisement will get worse if Judge Kavanaugh
is confirmed to the court. His opinion in the South Carolina [voter ID
preclearance] case and his record in civil rights matters suggests that he
will join with the court’s conservative justices to further roll back
voting rights protections and other civil rights laws. If Judge Kavanaugh
is confirmed, Chief Justice John Roberts will become the new swing voter.
That’s terrible news for voting rights.”
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights
Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
Experts on Judge Kavanaugh and Election Law
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100054>
Posted on July 13, 2018 9:06 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100054> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

>From Politico
<https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/donald-trump-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-218963>,
here are some excerpts on how his confirmation would affect election law
and democracy:

   - Geof Stone:  “Across the entire spectrum of critical constitutional
   issues – ranging from abortion to gay rights to affirmative action to
   gerrymandering to campaign finance to the regulation of guns and beyond –
   they will now hold a majority. This is a stunning victory for partisan
   judicial decision making, and a stunning defeat for the integrity and
   credibility of our Supreme Court, which will now be transformed into a
   blatantly partisan institution.”
   - Elizabeth Price Foley: “His commitment to textualism and originalism
   will help the Court restore power to the political branches and
   consequently, the American people. Unlike activist judges who believe “law
   is politics” and feel empowered to impose their subjective preferences on
   the country, judges such as Kavanaugh believe strongly that law is the end
   product of politics, not a continuation thereof.”
   - Michael McConnell: “Please, my liberal friends, calm down…. [I]t is
   hard for me to count five votes for overruling *Roe*…. And even if I am
   wrong about that, remember that a reversal of *Roe *means nothing more
   than a return to the democratic process…. *Citizens United *is probably
   here to stay. But this is not because of replacing Kennedy with Kavanaugh.
   Kennedy wrote *Citizens United*.”
   - Michael Waldman: “[I]t’s an alarming day for the law of democracy. On
   this topic, the Roberts Court has been activist, relentless, and
   destructive. Take *Citizens United*. Or *Shelby County* (gutting the
   Voting Rights Act). Or this year’s rulings on voter purges and racial
   gerrymandering. The Roberts Court even came within one vote – Kennedy’s –
   of blocking citizen ballot measures to reform redistricting. The Court may
   now rule on voting rights, partisan gerrymandering, campaign finance laws
   and the one-person-one-vote doctrine (conservative activists want only
   citizens counted for redistricting). Kavanaugh should be grilled on his
   stance toward America’s wobbly democracy.”

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Posted in Supreme Court
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
CLC & Demos on Judge Kavanaugh’s Record
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100051>
Posted on July 13, 2018 8:47 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100051> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Fact sheet available here
<https://campaignlegal.org/document/campaign-legal-center-and-demos-brief-judge-brett-kavanaugh>.
Their conclusion: “Judge Kavanaugh’s record raises serious concerns that he
would expand the power of big money in politics, weaken voter protections,
and insulate the president from the rule of law. Senators must press
Kavanaugh and critically examine his track record on these issues.”
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Posted in Supreme Court
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“America’s electoral system gives the Republicans advantages over Democrats”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100049>
Posted on July 13, 2018 7:54 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100049> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

The Economist
<https://www.economist.com/briefing/2018/07/12/americas-electoral-system-gives-the-republicans-advantages-over-democrats>
:

America’s various disproportional representations are the result of
winner-takes-all voting and a two-party system where party allegiance and
geography have become surprisingly highly correlated. Places where people
live close together vote Democratic, places where they live farther apart
vote Republican… Under some electoral systems this would not matter very
much. Under America’s it has come to matter a lot, in part because of an
anti-party constitution.

Bonus: see if you can spot the Springsteen references. (I count four.)
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Posted in political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>
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