[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/4/18

Mon Sep 3 15:47:15 PDT 2018

“Brett Kavanaugh May Soon Unshackle All Rich Political Donors”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100963>
Posted on September 3, 2018 3:46 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100963> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I have written this piece<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaughs-supreme-court-tenure-could-mean-the-end-of-all-campaign-finance-limits.html> for Slate. It begins:

By the time President Donald Trump runs for reelection in 2020, he might be able to accept unlimited campaign contributions to support his bid, thanks to his nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. Documents released ahead of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings this week that date from his time in George W. Bush’s White House reveal that the judge just might be ready to strike down what’s left of federal law limiting contributions to candidates, as a First Amendment violation. There are two cases heading to the Supreme Court that would allow him to do just that…..

If, as expected, Judge Brett Kavanaugh joins the court, he could well push it to move more quickly, in a way that could eventually cause the downfall of the federal law that limits an individual to contributing no more than $2,700 per election to a candidate for federal office. Kavanaugh worked in the Bush White House when it was looking at the McCain-Feingold law, which Bush eventually signed even while expressing constitutional reservations<http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=64503> about parts of it in a signing statement.

Recently released documents<https://twitter.com/SteveESpaulding/status/1035874680912195586> from the time that Kavanaugh was advising Bush on McCain-Feingold show a person seriously skeptical of campaign finance laws’ constitutionality. Kavanaugh expressed deep misgivings about laws that let outside groups spend unlimited sums in elections while limiting how much candidates and parties can raise to respond to such ads. He told another adviser that he saw “serious First Amendment problems” with capping what people can contribute to candidates, adding that “it is possible my 1A views are even purer than yours.” He also noted that while “very few people” thought contribution limits to candidates are unconstitutional, “I for one tend to think those limits have constitutional problems.”

As Common Cause’s Steve Spaulding notes<https://twitter.com/SteveESpaulding/status/1035928229620731905>, “Kavanaugh himself acknowledges in the docs that he’s far outside the mainstream here.” The documents reveal a person who is deeply skeptical of even the most basic campaign finance limits, the ones that say a wealthy person cannot simply write a $100 million check to a candidate to run for office. (Lest you think that amount is fanciful, it is less than the amount that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson<https://www.propublica.org/article/how-much-did-sheldon-adelson-really-spend-on-campaign-2012> and the Koch Brothers network<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/27/koch-brothers-network-to-spend-400-million-in-midterm-election-cycle.html> have spent in recent elections, and Trump impeachment advocate Tom Steyer has spent nearly that much<https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topindivs.php?cycle=2016&view=fc> in the past.) The inequality of influence and corruption and its appearance that could stem from such a system is profound.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“How Brett Kavanaugh Would Transform the Supreme Court”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100961>
Posted on September 3, 2018 3:45 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100961> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Adam Liptak curtain-raiser for the NYT.<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/us/politics/judge-kavanaugh-supreme-court-justices.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront>
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Posted in Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Kansas court rules for grand jury investigation of Kobach”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100959>
Posted on September 3, 2018 3:32 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100959> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article217710045.html>

A grand jury must be convened to investigate whether Republican gubernatorial candidate and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach intentionally failed to register voters in 2016, the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled.

The court’s one-page opinion was released Friday and offered no explanation behind the ruling, which addressed Kobach’s appeal of a lower court’s order to summon the grand jury, the Lawrence Journal-World reported .
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Corporations, interest groups spend fortunes on ballot measures”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100957>
Posted on September 2, 2018 2:43 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100957> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Reid Wilson:<http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/404555-corporations-interest-groups-spend-fortunes-on-ballot-measures>

Some of the most expensive campaigns this fall will be waged between the wealthiest corporations and best-funded interest groups in America, as those groups vie to pass or block ballot initiatives in states across the country.

Voters in 38 states will decide whether to approve or reject at least 150 ballot measures this November. Collectively, those measures could match or surpass the $1 billion that supporters and opponents spent on ballot measures in 2016.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, direct democracy<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=62>

“Georgia’s Voting Plan Has Drawn New Criticism, This Time Over How It’s Dealing With Voters Overseas”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100955>
Posted on September 1, 2018 10:24 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100955> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

BuzzFeed:<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevincollier/georgia-is-blocking-overseas-voters-from-registering-online>

The state of Georgia has blocked all foreign internet traffic to its online voter registration site, BuzzFeed News has learned, a move that would do little to deter hackers but blocks absentee voters.

The site, registertovote.sos.ga.gov<https://registertovote.sos.ga.gov/>, is accessible only to US IP addresses.

The decision has outraged technologists and voting groups. In theory, it’s meant as a security measure, based on the idea that a person visiting the site is more likely to be a foreign hacker. But in practice, it has the opposite effect: Georgians abroad who don’t know how to reroute their internet traffic with tools like virtual private networks (VPNs) or Tor will be prevented from registering to vote.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
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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