[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/2/20

Wed Aug 26 01:51:30 PDT 2020

Congratulations to Dan and the University of Wisconsin. They made a great
choice!

Michael Halberstam
mhalberst23 at gmail.com
646-285-6281
https://ssrn.com/author=384553

On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 9:52 AM Goldfeder, Jerry H. <jgoldfeder at stroock.com>
wrote:

> Hearty congratulations to Dan and the University of Wisconsin Law School!
>
>
>
>
> *Jerry H.* *Goldfeder*
> Special Counsel
>
> *STROOCK*
> 180 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
> D: 212.806.5857
> M: 917.680.3132
>
> jgoldfeder at stroock.com | vCard | www.stroock.com
>
> *From:* Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> *On
> Behalf Of *Rick Hasen
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 2, 2020 12:13 PM
> *To:* Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
> *Subject:* [EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/2/20
>
>
> Huge Congratulations to Dan Tokaji, Named New Dean of Wisconsin Law
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 9:08 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> I’m very pleased to share the news that my friend, co-author, and
> co-blogger Dan Tokaji has been named the new dean of the University of
> Wisconsin Law School. Wisconsin is lucky to have Dan, who is so smart,
> judicious, patient, and modest.
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
> True the Vote Goes Full Nativist, Flirts with Anti-Semitism, Accusing
> “Globalists” of “financing ANTIFA terrorists to riot in the streets”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:58 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> From their latest email:
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in fraudulent fraud squad
>
>
>
>
> “Facebook Employees Stage Virtual Walkout to Protest Trump Posts”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:54 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> NYT:
>
> *Hundreds of Facebook employees, in rare public criticism on Monday of
> their own company, protested executives’ decision not to do anything about
> inflammatory posts that President Trump had placed on the giant social
> media platform over the past week.*
>
> *Many of the employees, who said they refused to work in order to show
> their support for demonstrators across the country, added an automated
> message to their digital profiles and email responses saying that they were
> out of the office in a show of protest….*
>
> *“The hateful rhetoric advocating violence against black demonstrators by
> the US President does not warrant defense under the guise of freedom of
> expression,” one Facebook employee wrote in an internal message board,
> according to a copy of the text viewed by The New York Times.*
>
> *The employee added: “Along with Black employees in the company, and all
> persons with a moral conscience, I am calling for Mark to immediately take
> down the President’s post advocating violence, murder and imminent threat
> against Black people.” The Times agreed to withhold the employee’s name.*
>
> *Mr. Zuckerberg has argued on a number of occasions that Facebook should
> take a hands-off approach to what people post, including lies from elected
> officials and others in power. He has repeatedly said the public should be
> allowed to decide what to believe.*
>
> *That stand was tested last week when Twitter added fact-check and warning
> labels to two tweets from the president that broke Twitter’s rules around
> voter suppression and glorification of violence. But as Twitter acted on
> Mr. Trump’s tweets, Facebook left his posts on its platform alone. Mr.
> Zuckerberg said Mr. Trump’s posts did not violate the social network’s
> rules.*
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in social media and social protests
>
>
>
>
> “The Technology 202: Mark Zuckerberg spoke with civil rights leaders about
> Trump’s posts. It didn’t go well.”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:48 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> WaPo:
>
> *Top Facebook executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, spoke with civil
> rights leaders last night as the company confronts a wave of backlash over
> its decision not to moderate President Trump’s controversial posts. *
>
>
>
> *But the roughly hour-long call, intended to show the company takes
> concerns from the black community seriously, only further inflamed
> tensions.  Color of Change President Rashad Robinson, NAACP Legal Defense
> Fund president Sherrilyn Ifil and The Leadership Conference on Civil and
> Human Rights chief executive Vanita Gupta immediately blasted Zuckerberg in
> a statement following the call. *
>
> [image: Share]
>
>
>
> Posted in chicanery, social media and social protests
>
>
>
>
> “In Pennsylvania, officials prepare for coronavirus, civil unrest to
> disrupt Tuesday primary”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:46 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> WaPo:
>
> *Election officials across Pennsylvania braced for a chaotic day of voting
> in Tuesday’s primary, as the convergence of the coronavirus pandemic and
> protests over the death of George Floyd threaten to close in-person polling
> locations, even as thousands of voters who requested mail-in ballots still
> have not received them.*
>
> *In Philadelphia, city officials said they were working with police and
> other emergency personnel to prevent violence from disrupting voting. The
> city planned to open 190 polling places instead of the usual 831, but with
> a late surge of poll workers canceling their commitments out of fear of
> unrest, there was no guarantee that even the reduced number of polling
> sites would open Tuesday morning.*
>
> *“This was already a difficult task with the pandemic, and the current
> events have only made that difficult task harder,” said Nick Custodio, a
> deputy city commissioner.AD*
>
> *Reached moments before voting was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m., Custodio
> said election officials were receiving numerous calls, and he could not say
> whether polling places would open on time.*
>
> *At the A.W. Christy Recreation Center in predominantly African American
> West Philadelphia — where 15 separate polling locations were consolidated —
> voters arrived with mail ballots in hand, unsure of what to do with them.
> With no ballot dropbox available, officials directed voters to a public
> library a mile away.*
>
> *Voting advocates said many voters were showing up at their long-standing
> voting locations, only to find facilities shuttered and with no signs
> directing them to a consolidated location. They also said black voters have
> struggled to vote absentee, largely because of a combination of mistrust
> about dropping their ballot in the mail and lack of Internet access to
> understand how to do it.*
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
> “Republicans Fear Trump’s Criticism of Mail-In Ballots Will Hurt Them”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:42 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> NYT:
>
> *President Trump has relentlessly attacked mail voting, calling it a
> free-for-all for cheating and a Democratic scheme to rig elections.*
>
> *None of the charges are true.*
>
> *But as eight states and the District of Columbia vote on Tuesday in the
> biggest Election Day since the coronavirus forced a pause in the primary
> calendar, it is clear that Mr. Trump’s message has sunk in deeply with
> Republicans, who have shunned mail ballots.*
>
> *Republican officials and strategists warned that if a wide partisan gap
> over mail voting continues in November, Republicans could be at a
> disadvantage, an unintended repercussion of the president’s fear-mongering
> about mail ballots that could hurt his party’s chances, including his own.*
>
> *In Pennsylvania, Iowa, Indiana and New Mexico, all states voting on
> Tuesday that broadly extended the option to vote by mail this year, a
> higher share of Democrats than Republicans have embraced mail-in ballots.*
>
> See also my April 20 *NY Daily News *oped, GOP War on Mail Ballots May
> Backfire.
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in campaigns, fraudulent fraud squad
>
>
>
>
> “Election officials contradict Barr’s assertion that counterfeit mail
> ballots produced by a foreign country are a ‘real’ worry”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:35 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> WaPo:
>
> *Current and former election administrators said it would be virtually
> impossible for a foreign country to produce and mail in phony absentee
> ballots without detection, an issue Attorney General William P. Barr raised
> as a serious possibility in an interview published Monday.*
>
> *Barr told the New York Times Magazine that a foreign operation to mail in
> fake ballots was “one of the issues that I’m real worried about.”*
>
> *“We’ve been talking about how, in terms of foreign influence, there are a
> number of foreign countries that could easily make counterfeit ballots, put
> names on them, send them in,” Barr said. “And it’d be very hard to sort out
> what’s happening.”*
>
> *Barr did not offer any evidence of how such a scenario would take place.*
>
> *Elections officials in multiple states said it would be virtually
> impossible for a foreign government to achieve what Barr described.*
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in fraudulent fraud squad
>
>
>
>
> “U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to Montana campaign finance law”
>
> Posted on June 2, 2020 8:31 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> Bozeman Daily Chronicle:
>
> *The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a case that
> challenged Montana’s law on disclosing the spending for political ads
> within 60 days of an election.*
>
> *In August 2019, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Montana’s
> law that nonprofit groups running ads that mention candidates, political
> parties or ballot issues in the 60-day window before an election have to
> report any spending of $250 or more and say who funded their efforts.*
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in campaign finance, Supreme Court
>
>
>
>
> “Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf extends mail ballot deadlines for one week”
>
> Posted on June 1, 2020 2:49 pm by *Rick Hasen*
>
> Philly Inquirer reports.
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
> “As Trump attacks voting by mail, GOP builds 2020 strategy around limiting
> its expansion”
>
> Posted on June 1, 2020 2:33 pm by *Rick Hasen*
>
> WaPo deep dive:
>
> *President Trump’s persistent attacks on mail-in voting have fueled an
> unprecedented effort by conservatives to limit expansion of the practice
> before the November election, with tens of millions of dollars planned for
> lawsuits and advertising aimed at restricting who receives ballots and who
> remains on the voter rolls.*
>
> *The strategy, embraced by Trump’s reelection campaign, the Republican
> National Committee and an array of independent conservative groups,
> reflects the recognition by both parties that voting rules could decide the
> outcome of the 2020 White House race amid the electoral challenges posed by
> the coronavirus pandemic.*
>
> *Helping drive the effort is William Consovoy, a veteran Supreme Court
> litigator who also serves as one of Trump’s personal lawyers. Consovoy’s
> Virginia-based law firm is handling a battery of legal actions on behalf of
> the RNC, several state GOPs and an independent group called the Honest
> Elections Project, which is connected to a Trump
> adviser.*
>
> *The legal firepower and direct involvement of the national party reflect
> a major escalation in the conservative battle over voter fraud and voting
> rights, which until this year had primarily been waged by lesser-known
> groups with far fewer resources. The tactics of those organizations are now
> being embraced by new players with connections to influential figures in
> the president’s orbit….*
>
> *According to people who know Consovoy, he is also a friend of
> conservative activist Leonard Leo, who has raised hundreds of millions of
> dollars for conservative causes in recent years and has advised Trump on
> his appointment of conservative Supreme Court Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh
> and Neil M. Gorsuch.*
>
> *Leo has spent an increasing amount of time studying voting cases,
> advising outside groups and encouraging conservative donors to support the
> efforts, said multiple people with knowledge of his activities. He declined
> a request for comment.*
>
> *Leo is raising money for two conservative nonprofit networks called the
> 85 Fund and the Concord Fund, people familiar with his activities said. The
> Honest Elections Project is a project of the 85 Fund, the people said.*
>
> *Snead called Leo a “supporter” of Honest Elections, declining to comment
> further.*
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in absentee ballots, fraudulent fraud squad
>
>
>
>
> “In Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic, Plaintiff Sues to Challenge Tennessee’s
> Vote-By-Mail Procedures”
>
> Posted on June 1, 2020 2:29 pm by *Rick Hasen*
>
> Analysis from the Bradley firm.
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
> Yale Law School’s Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression
> Conference
>
> Posted on June 1, 2020 12:43 pm by *Richard Pildes*
>
> On Tuesday, Yale Law School is putting on this conference on the internet
> and the First Amendment. Nate Persily and I are participating in sessions
> on election issues and online platforms. For access to the Zoom conference,
> for which you must get registered, contact Heather.Branch at yale.edu.
>
> *COMMERCIAL SPEECH AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT*
>
> June 2, 2020
>
> *8:45 – 9:00        Welcome by Sandra Baron and Introduction by Floyd
> Abrams*
>
>
> *9:00 – 10:30       The Supreme Court’s Framework for Commercial Speech:
> Shifting? Unmoored?*
>
> *Panelists:*
>
> ·        *Robert Post* – Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School, New
> Haven, CT
>
> ·        *Beth Brinkmann* – Partner, Covington, Washington, DC
>
> ·        *Genevieve Lakier – *Assistant Professor of Law, Herbert and
> Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar, University of Chicago Law School, Chicago,
> IL
>
> *Moderator: *
>
> ·        *Amanda Shanor – *Assistant Professor, Wharton School of the
> University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
>
> *10:30 – 10:45    Break*
>
> *10:45 – Noon    Regulating Political Advertising Online:  Is disclosure
> still the key? *
>
> In the wake of the 2016 election, states are getting more aggressive in
> regulating online political advertising, including by trying to shift some
> of the disclosure and record-keeping burdens onto the media platforms that
> host political ads, as opposed to just the advertisers themselves.  The
> Fourth Circuit recently held that Maryland’s attempt to do so was
> unconstitutional.  What are the boundaries of the state’s power to require
> disclosures under the First Amendment?
>
> *Panelists:*
>
> ·        *Richard H. Pildes* – Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional
> Law, NYU Law School, New York, NY
>
> ·        *Daniel I. Weiner* – Deputy Director, Election Reform Program,
> Brennan Center for Justice, Washington, DC
>
> ·        *Allen Dickerson* – Legal Director, Institute For Free Speech,
> Washington, DC
>
> *Moderator:*
>
> ·        *Paul Safier* – Of Counsel, Ballard Spahr LLP, Philadelphia, PA
>
> *12:00 – 12:30    Break*
>
> *12:30 – 1:15       From Across the Atlantic:  A heads-up on what EU
> Influence to anticipate on the U.S. Internet Law, Policy and Practice*
>
> ·        *Remy Chavannes – *Partner, Brinkhof, Amsterdam, NL
>
> *1:30 – 2:45         Where Algorithms Meet The First Amendment*
>
> Digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google are increasingly
> crucial spaces for public discourse. But they are also the sites of great
> conflict over election interference, misinformation, discriminatory and
> false advertising, and the future of free speech values. The platforms
> shape the discourse they host through rules on “content moderation” and
> through black-box algorithms that invisibly decide what users will see and
> in what order.
>
> Should free speech values inform the ways in which platforms moderate the
> speech they host? If so, which, and how should the platforms resolve
> conflicts between competing free speech values or between free speech
> values and other democratic ideals? Is regulation desirable, and if so,
> what kind? Would the First Amendment permit this kind of regulation?
>
> *Panelists:*
>
> ·        *Jack Balkin* – Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the
> First Amendment, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT
>
> ·        *Daphne Keller* –  Director, Program on Platform Regulation,
> Cyber Policy Center, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, CA
>
> ·        *Nathaniel Persily* – James B. McClatchy Professor of Law,
> Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, CA
>
> *Moderator: *
>
> ·        *Alex Abdo – *Litigation Director, Knight First Amendment
> Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY
>
> *2:45 – 4:00         Milk from Nuts.  Burgers from Soybeans.  Can the
> states regulate what you call them?*
>
> As alternative food products have grown in popularity, states have passed
> laws limiting what such products can be named. These laws’ proponents view
> them as promoting truth in labeling, but opponents see a violation of First
> Amendment rights.
>
> *Panelists: *
>
> ·        *Sarah Roller* – Partner, Kelley Drye and Chair of Food and Drug
> Law practice, Washington, DC
>
> ·        *Justin Pearson* – Florida Office Managing Attorney, Institute
> for Justice, Miami, FL
>
> ·        *Claudia Haupt *– Associate Professor of Law and Political
> Science, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA
>
> *Moderators:*
>
> ·        *Brendan Healey *– Partner, Baron Harris Healey, Chicago, IL
>
> ·        *Jonah Knobler *– Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, New
> York, NY
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
> “Democracy As A Slogan”
>
> Posted on June 1, 2020 9:39 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> Powerful Franita Tolson:
>
> *“This is a republic, not a democracy” is the last thing that one
> committed to voting rights wants to hear, particularly from those defending
> the shortcomings of what most of the world (used to) regard as the last
> great democracy.  But this critique highlights a core failure of the
> American experiment that too few people have challenged as the country has
> become more democratic over the last 60 years: the fact that Americans love
> the ideas of democracy, to speak the words of democracy, but don’t want to
> do the real work required to live in a democracy.  Political elites push
> marginalized people towards a system that only works for the powerful, and
> they point to America’s sometime embrace of democratic norms as evidence
> that the system is, in fact, democratic.  The failure to recognize the
> difference between living in a democracy and living in a country with
> democratic norms means that rights can be infringed without recourse,
> political parties can maintain power without majority support, courts can
> be stacked with partisans…all while engaging the language of democracy.
> Americans can borrow democratic rhetoric without truly committing to
> democratic ideals.*
>
> *Democracy, however, is not just rhetoric; it is a commitment.  It is a
> way of life.  As much as we would like for it to be the American way,
> history has shown that our commitment to democracy has, at times, been
> fleeting.  The right to vote, for example, is considered the cornerstone of
> democratic legitimacy in our system.  Yet our history is littered with
> examples of wrongful disenfranchisement against people of color, women, the
> disabled, the impoverished, and others from all walks of life, with state
> sanctioned violence and intimidation being used to deprive people of this
> most precious right.  Today, we are still fighting these voting wars
> because the democratic norms that allowed for broader access to the ballot
> six decades ago have been easily eroded since they are not explicitly
> written in the text of the U.S. Constitution.*
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
> “Time Is Running Out For Mail Balloting In June 2 Primary States”
>
> Posted on June 1, 2020 9:36 am by *Rick Hasen*
>
> Steven Rosenfeld reports.
>
> [image: Share]
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> 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
>
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
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