[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/22/19

Mon Jul 22 07:44:49 PDT 2019

“Appeals Court Judges Send Emoluments Suit Against Trump Back to a Lower Court”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106564>
Posted on July 22, 2019 7:42 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106564> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/us/politics/emoluments-suit-trump.html>:

“The District Court did not adequately address whether — given the separation of powers issues present in a lawsuit brought by members of the legislative branch against the president of the United States — resolving the legal questions and/or postponing discovery would be preferable, or whether discovery is even necessary” to establish whether the plaintiffs were entitled to judicial intervention, the judges stated.

They sent the case back to Judge Sullivan, essentially telling him to give the Justice Department permission to appeal his rulings because they raise “open threshold cases of pure law.” In response, Judge Sullivan halted discovery in the case while he considers whether to issue new orders.
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Posted in conflict of interest laws<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>

“Secret donors and Trump allies: Inside the operation to push noncitizen voting laws in Florida and other states”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106562>
Posted on July 22, 2019 7:36 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106562> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-donors-and-trump-allies-inside-the-operation-to-push-noncitizen-voting-laws-in-florida-and-other-states/2019/07/21/e0604e2e-a359-11e9-b8c8-75dae2607e60_story.html?utm_term=.20625ead8400>

A network of out-of-state political consultants, secret donors and activists with close ties to President Trump is behind an effort to change the Florida constitution to explicitly state that only citizens may vote in elections, a measure that would amplify the issue of immigration in the 2020 battleground state.

In recent months, organizers said they have collected nearly twice the signatures needed to qualify for the ballot next year — and more than any other ballot initiative in Florida state history, they said.

The exact legal effect the amendment would have remains unclear. While federal law explicitly bars noncitizen voting, the language in the Florida constitution — like that of many states — says that “every” citizen who is 18 may vote. The proposed amendment would change the language to say “only” a citizen may vote.

Supporters of the amendment said the current phrasing is vague and leaves the door open to laws allowing noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections, now permitted in about a dozen jurisdictions around the country. No such proposals have surfaced in Florida.

A campaign focused on the risk of noncitizen voting could appeal to conservatives and alarm immigrants — a possible boost for Trump, who has made immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his reelection bid, political analysts said.

“This is clearly a very mobilizing issue in Florida,” said Susan MacManus, a politics professor emeritus with the University of South Florida.

“Clearly, the purpose is not only making a statement about immigration, but to turn out the vote of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters,” she added.

Organizers denied that the effort is intended to drive up conservative turnout but acknowledged the measure could work to Trump’s benefit by forcing Democratic candidates to say whether they support noncitizen voting in local elections.

The initiative is being publicly championed by a West Palm Beach couple who are members of the president’s private club and have been associated with Trump’s political operation.

But an examination of the ballot measure campaign found it is being driven by a veteran GOP political consultant based in Arizona who said he has plans to expand the effort to at least a dozen other states in time for the 2020 elections — many of which are key Senate battlegrounds.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Mississippi Quotes John Roberts to Defend Its Racist Election Law”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106560>
Posted on July 22, 2019 7:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106560> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Matt Ford for TNR<https://newrepublic.com/article/154496/mississippi-quotes-john-roberts-defend-racist-election-law>.
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Crystal Mason Thought She Had The Right to Vote. Texas Sentenced Her to Five Years in Prison for Trying”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106558>
Posted on July 22, 2019 7:25 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106558> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The ACLU makes her case<https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression/crystal-mason-thought-she-had-right-vote-texas> (currently on appeal).
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“A Banner Proxy Season for Political Disclosure and Accountability”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106555>
Posted on July 22, 2019 7:18 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106555> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bruce F. Freed, Dan Carroll, and Karl J. Sandstrom blog<https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/07/22/a-banner-proxy-season-for-political-disclosure-and-accountability/>.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Thanks to Larry Solum…<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106553>
Posted on July 21, 2019 5:49 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106553> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

for naming my article, Deep Fakes, Bots, and Siloed Justices: American Election Law in a Post-Truth World<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3418427>, as a Legal Theory Blog “Download of the Week<https://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2019/07/download-of-the-week-american-election-law-in-a-post-truth-world-by-hasen.html>.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Former HHS Secretary and Member of Congress Tom Price Poised to Convert $1.7 Million in Campaign Funds to a 501(c)(4) That Can Play in Georgia (or Federal) Elections (Now Updated with an Important Caveat)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106551>
Posted on July 21, 2019 5:25 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106551> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This recommendation of the FEC staff<https://saos.fec.gov/aodocs/201910.pdf> would allow Price to do that. A 501(c)(4) can now do lots of election and political activity without getting in trouble with the IRS.

UPDATE: It may be that the limits this 501(c)(4) is putting on itself, at least until it spends down Price’s campaign funds, may curtail<https://twitter.com/EllenAprill/status/1153120997760888832> some of the political activity it would engage in. But the benefit of this structure would be to shield future donors<https://twitter.com/BDGesq/status/1153129519655636992> from public disclosure.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Ex-Trump Voter Fraud Commissioner Settles Lawsuit Over ‘Alien Invasion’ Reports”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106549>
Posted on July 21, 2019 5:20 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106549> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TPM<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/trump-voter-fraud-comissioner-defamation-lawsuit-settled>:

A former Trump voter fraud commissioner will apologize to citizens he wrongly described as noncitizens in reports claiming mass voter fraud in Virginia, according to a tentative settlement agreement reached this week in a lawsuit brought against the commissioner.<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/lawsuit-j-christian-adams>

J. Christian Adams and his group the Public Interest Legal Foundation were sued last year over the “Aliens Invasion” reports they released in 2016 and 2017. The reports — which included names, phone numbers, addresses and social security numbers of individuals removed from voter rolls allegedly because they were noncitizens — amounted to defamation and voter intimidation, the lawsuit alleged.
Under the terms of the freshly announced agreement, PILF will have to remove from its website the report exhibits containing the individuals’ personal information, according to a press release Wednesday from the groups that brought the suit.

According to the press release, PILF will also have to add a statement in front of the reports that says, “PILF recognizes that individuals in [the removed exhibits] were in fact citizens and that these citizens did not commit felonies. PILF profoundly regrets any characterization of those registrants as felons or instances of registration or voting as felonies.”…

As I asked on Twitter<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1153096004494741504>:
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 · 14h<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1153094947538554880>
<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1153094947538554880>

Is this piece by Christian Adams really about defending John Gore, or more about defending himself in the defamation litigation he recently settled with an apology? https://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/new-normal-bloodlust-from-left-in-census-and-election-fights/ …<https://t.co/PxYEMXi4Ja>
<https://t.co/PxYEMXi4Ja>
[cid:image003.jpg at 01D54061.56C5D9F0]<https://t.co/PxYEMXi4Ja>
New Normal: Bloodlust on the Left in Census and Election Fights<https://t.co/PxYEMXi4Ja>

The Left is using legal process to settle scores, to cause pain to opponents that they once could only touch with free speech.<https://t.co/PxYEMXi4Ja>
pjmedia.com<https://t.co/PxYEMXi4Ja>

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From Adams (perhaps writing about his own recent experience? https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/trump-voter-fraud-comissioner-defamation-lawsuit-settled …<https://t.co/yMz52Tmv17>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

A Huge Thank You To Justin Levitt…<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106547>
Posted on July 21, 2019 5:05 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106547> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

who had an incredibly busy week covering what should be the slow season (calm before the storm?) in election law.

Thank you Justin, for both the substance and the chuckles<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=106544>.
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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
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