[EL] still more news

Fri Jan 25 14:52:25 PST 2019

Breaking: DOJ Files Formal Request to Have Supreme Court Leapfrog Second Circuit in Considering Census Citizenship Question Case–A Request the Supreme Court is Very Likely to Grant<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103337>
Posted on January 25, 2019 2:46 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103337> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Via Chris Geidner<https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1088928139852595203>, comes this filing<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5695582-2019-01-25-Commerce-CBJ-Petn.html> from the Department of Justice, seeking review of the district court order keeping the citizenship question off the upcoming census form. The petition seeks to have the Supreme Court immediately review this judgment, rather than the usual step of having it reviewed by the Second Circuit.

I think the Court is almost certainly going to grant this petition, because there needs to be a final ruling by June, when the tens of millions of census forms need to be printed. Even if the petition has a relatively small chance of success on the merits, I still think the Court will take it.

It appears that DOJ is seeking review not only of Judge Furman’s decision that the way the citizenship question got included in the census violated the Administrative Procedure Act as well as other census-related legislation but also of Judge Furman’s discovery rulings. Those latter rulings were put on hold by the Supreme Court, and Judge Furman decided this case without considering the evidence in question. So I expect the Court will only agree to hear the first question presented in the petition, and will also dismiss the earlier case (it was supposed to hear in February, until it removed the case from the calendar) as improvidently granted.

As for the merits, the plaintiffs should win given the strength of Judge Furman’s opinion. But this is a highly charged political case before a partisan-divided Supreme Court, though CJ Roberts is trying to keep the temperature down.
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Posted in Department of Justice<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>

“Iowa voter ID law: Judge strikes rule on absentee ballots as ‘irrational, illogical and wholly unjustifiable'”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103334>
Posted on January 25, 2019 1:44 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103334> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Des Moines Register<https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2019/01/24/iowa-voter-id-elections-paul-pate-absentee-ballots-court-polk-county-voting-vote-law-early-judge-ia/2668763002/>:

An Iowa judge struck down part of a 2017 voter ID law dealing with absentee ballots — a decision opponents of the law say will make it easier for voters to get ballots and Secretary of State Paul Pate said will make it “easier to cheat.”

Polk County District Court Judge Karen Romano called the rule unlawful and blocked it from taking effect in a Wednesday ruling. The rule had prevented county auditors from using an existing statewide voter database to look up missing voter information when processing absentee ballot requests.

Romano wrote that limiting auditors’ use of the database was “irrational, illogical, and wholly unjustifiable.”
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

With Resignation of North Carolina Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court About to be 6-1 Democratic, with Implications for Partisan Gerrymandering<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103332>
Posted on January 25, 2019 1:39 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103332> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Democratic governor Roy Cooper will get to name a replacement<https://apnews.com/4c74d8f61c50435daff7644f0321a498> for North Carolina Chief Justice Mark Martin.

This increases the chances that a state Supreme Court strikes down North Carolinas districts as partisan gerrymanders, which perhaps takes the heat off the U.S. Supreme Court to act in the Rucholitigation.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Election Security Advocates Battle the National Association of Secretaries of State over Opposition to Strengthening Voting Systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103330>
Posted on January 25, 2019 1:18 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103330> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico<https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-cybersecurity/2019/01/25/secretary-of-state-election-security-advocates-square-off-490439>:

Indiana’s top election official is refusing to release her communications with the National Association of Secretaries of State, limiting the public’s understanding of both her role and the role of NASS in squashing federal legislation to upgrade voting systems, Eric reports. Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson is fighting a public records request that could shed light on both the NASS stance in election security debates and the influence that the small community of voting technology vendors has over the organization.

“Secretary Lawson and other NASS leaders have made public statements at times that misrepresent the security threats to voting machines,” National Election Defense Coalition policy director Susan Greenhalgh, who submitted the records request, told POLITICO. “Congress and the public have a right to understand why.” In letters to Greenhalgh and a statement to POLITICO, Lawson’s office said that the records are exempt from disclosure because NASS is a private organization and some of the material is either copyrighted or classified.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

“A crowded 2020 presidential primary field calls for ranked choice voting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103328>
Posted on January 25, 2019 1:14 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103328> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Rep. Jamie Raskin oped<https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/426982-a-crowded-2020-presidential-primary-field-calls-for-ranked>.
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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/>
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