[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/18/19

Tue Jun 18 11:34:10 PDT 2019

“House Oversight Republicans release parts of Kobach, Trump officials’ testimony on census citizenship question”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105660>
Posted on June 18, 2019 11:25 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105660> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Hill<https://thehill.com/homenews/house/449093-jordan-releases-parts-of-kobach-trump-admin-officials-testimony-on-census>:

Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday released new portions of an interview with former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach<https://thehill.com/person/kris-kobach> on his role in adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

Rep. Jim Jordan<https://thehill.com/people/jim-jordan> (R-Ohio), the ranking member of the panel, made the new portions of the interviews with Kobach and other Trump administration officials public in response to the committee’s vote last week to hold Attorney General William Barr<https://thehill.com/people/william-barr> and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross<https://thehill.com/people/wilbur-ross> in contempt.

“The contempt citation was premature, unnecessary, and designed to advance a partisan goal of influencing ongoing litigation presently before the Supreme Court of the United States,” the Republican report reads.
Jordan also sought to refute allegations surrounding the role of a late GOP redistricting strategist in getting the citizenship question on the census.

You can find the Republican report at this link<https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-06-17-COR-Contempt-Citation-Barr-Ross-Minority-Views.pdf>.
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Posted in census litigation<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=125>

“The Citizenship Question Could Cost California And Texas A Seat In Congress”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105658>
Posted on June 18, 2019 11:07 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105658> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

538 reports.<https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-citizenship-question-could-cost-california-and-texas-a-seat-in-congress/>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Will The Supreme Court Punt On Partisan Gerrymandering Again?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105656>
Posted on June 18, 2019 11:06 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105656> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Amy Howe chats <https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/will-the-supreme-court-punt-on-partisan-gerrymandering-again/> with the 538 crew.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“We still have questions about whether Russia meddled in N.C. That’s a bad sign.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105654>
Posted on June 18, 2019 11:04 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105654> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo editorial.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-still-have-questions-about-whether-russia-meddled-in-nc-thats-a-bad-sign/2019/06/16/266069b6-8c73-11e9-8f69-a2795fca3343_story.html?utm_term=.c950f124edb1&wpmk=MK0000200>
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

N.J.: “Gov. Signs Dark Money Bill, Expects Lawmakers to Roll Back Problem Parks”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105652>
Posted on June 18, 2019 11:01 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105652> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NJ Spotlight reports.<https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/19/06/18/governor-signs-dark-money-bill-but-expects-lawmakers-to-roll-back-problem-parts/>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Justice Alito’s dissent in Bethune-Hill II<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105644>
Posted on June 17, 2019 9:03 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105644> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

Justice Alito has always had a particularly keen interest in redistricting, which I assume traces to his father’s involvement with the redistricting process during his work with the New Jersey legislature.  Thus, I am not surprised he wrote the dissent in today’s case.  Leaving aside the standing issue itself, his dissent includes many noteworthy statements about how much redistricting affects what legislatures do and the laws they produce.

These comments, in my view, are in tension with one argument Justice Scalia made in his plurality opinion in Vieth, in which he argues it is “impossible to assess the effects of partisan gerrymandering” because who knows how voters will vote from election to election.  I agree with Justice Alito that it would be “quite astounding” we have such “pitched battles over redistricting” if redistricting had no effect on what kinds of laws legislatures enact.

To be sure, there are other arguments made as to why courts should find redistricting non-justiciable. But Justice Alito is well-aware of how consequential redistricting can be, as this sampling of his comments from today attests:

“A legislative districting plan powerfully affects a legislative body’s output of work.”

“…it matters a lot how voters with shared interests and views are concentrated or split up. The cumulative effects of all the decisions that go into a districting plan have an important impact on the overall work of the body. All of this should really go without saying.”

“Districting matters because it has institutional and legislative consequences.  … To suggest otherwise, to argue that substituting one plan for another has no effect on the work or output of the legislative body whose districts are changed, would really be quite astounding.  If the selection of a districting plan did not alter what the legislative body does, why would there be such pitched battles over redistricting efforts?”

(Full disclosure: I represent Common Cause in the NC partisan gerrymandering case currently pending before the Court).
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Supreme Court, on 5-4 Vote in Bethune-Hill Racial Gerrymandering Case from Virginia, Concludes Va. House of Delegates Lacks Standing to Pursue Challenge.<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105642>
Posted on June 17, 2019 7:23 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105642> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find the opinion here<https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-281_6j37.pdf>.
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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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