[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/14/20
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Fri Nov 13 15:27:22 PST 2020
“Could State Legislatures Pick Electors to Vote for Trump? Not Likely”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118636>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:22 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118636> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/article/electors-vote.html>
President Trump’s last-ditch efforts to reverse the election seem to come down to a far-fetched scenario, one in which Republican-led state legislatures choose the members of the Electoral College, overturning the will of voters.
Could it work? Election law experts are highly skeptical. And leaders of the Republican majorities in legislatures in key states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, told The New York Times this week through their offices that they saw no role for themselves in picking electors.
That has not stopped some high-profile supporters of the president, including the talk radio host Mark Levin and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, from suggesting that Republican-led legislatures should consider ignoring the popular vote in close-fought states won by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and handing their electoral votes to Mr. Trump.
This political gambit, to the degree that it’s an organized strategy at all, has a theoretical basis in law, according to experts. But if it were to proceed, it could cause widespread outrage and be seen as an attempt to subvert the democratic process.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Trump’s attempts to challenge the election results suffer more setbacks in court”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118634>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:20 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118634> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-legal-challenges/2020/11/13/c967e05e-2514-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html>
President Trump’s faltering legal efforts to challenge the results of the election hit additional hurdles Friday as Republicans contended with setbacks in courtrooms in Michigan and Arizona and another major law firm withdrew from a case.
A state judge in Michigan rejected <https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/11/13/joe-biden-trump-election-live-updates/#link-BRMO3ZD6BBGD3B56XXIYAO4V5Q?itid=lk_inline_manual_5> a request by two Republican poll watchers to delay the certification of the vote countin Detroit, saying he saw no convincing evidence of election fraud at the center where election workers tallied absentee ballots….
Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Trump campaign acknowledged <https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/11/13/joe-biden-trump-election-live-updates/#link-DEYP2TG2IVHSXFV27JN4K4QYGM?itid=lk_inline_manual_21> to a judge in a court filing<https://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=1660> Friday that its lawsuit there would make no difference to the result of the presidential election.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Supreme Court goes idle on Trump-related disputes and time is running out”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118632>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:17 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118632> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bob Barnes for WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-trump-tax-returns-election-dispute/2020/11/13/2fc25b5a-252d-11eb-a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html>:
Has the Supreme Court hit the pause button on all things President Trump?
The justices for more than three weeks have been holding on to the president’s last-ditch plea to shield his private financial records from Manhattan’s district attorney.Follow the latest on Election 2020<https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/?itid=lk_interstitial_hub_election>
And all has been quiet on the election front.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. last Friday directed Pennsylvania election officials to segregate mail-in votes received in the three-day window after Election Day, and said he was referring the matter to the full court for further action.
No further action has come. Nor has the court acted on a separate request from the Trump campaign, pending for a week, to intervene in the case.
There is no deadline for the court to answer those questions, so the justices appear to be taking their time during the president’s battle to dispute his election defeat — and maybe even allowing the clock to run out.
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Posted in Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Expert: The GOP’s ‘Drumbeat’ Of Voter Fraud Set The Stage For Trump’s Current Actions”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118630>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:15 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118630> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
You can hear me on Texas Standard<https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/expert-the-gops-drumbeat-of-voter-fraud-set-the-stage-for-trumps-current-actions/>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“DHS boss Chad Wolf defies Trump order to fire cyber chief Chris Krebs”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118628>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:12 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118628> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NY Post reports<https://nypost.com/2020/11/13/dhs-boss-chad-wolf-defies-trump-order-to-fire-cyber-chief-chris-krebs/>.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
“Federal prosecutors assigned to monitor election malfeasance tell Barr they see no evidence of substantial irregularities”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118626>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:11 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118626> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/william-barr-election-memo/2020/11/13/6ed06d20-25e4-11eb-a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html>
Sixteen assistant U.S. attorneys specially assigned to monitor malfeasance in the 2020 election urged Attorney General William P. Barr on Friday to rescind his recent memorandum allowing investigators to publicly pursue allegations of “vote tabulation irregularities” in certain cases before results are certified, saying they had not seen evidence of any substantial anomalies.Follow the latest on Election 2020<https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/?itid=lk_interstitial_hub_election>
In a letter — an image of which was shown to The Washington Post — the assistant U.S. attorneys told Barr that the release of his Monday memorandum — which changed long-standing Justice Department policy<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-voting-fraud-william-barr-justice-department/2020/11/09/d57dbe98-22e6-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_3> on the steps prosecutors can take before the results of an election are certified — “thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics.”
The signers wrote that in the places where they served as district election officers, taking in reports of possible election-related crimes, there was no evidence of the kind of fraud that Barr’s memo had highlighted. Barr’s memo authorized prosecutors “to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases,” particularly where the outcome of an election could be impacted.
“The policy change was not based in fact,” the assistant U.S. attorneys wrote.
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Posted in Department of Justice<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>
“Trump team persists in Pa. court fights despite COVID quarantine, quitting lawyers and courtroom losses”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118623>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:05 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118623> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Philly Inquirer:<https://fusion.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-election-trump-lawsuits-porter-wright-court-linda-kerns-biden-20201113.html>
President Donald Trump’s effort to contest the Nov. 3 election in court suffered a series of setbacks Friday, leaving his house-of-cards legal strategy to reverse the results teetering on the edge of collapse.
The law firm leading Trump’s battles in Pennsylvania<https://www.inquirer.com/news/trump-lawsuits-philadelphia-biden-election-four-seasons-pennsylvania-20201107.html>, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, abruptly withdrew its representation — a decision a campaign spokesperson dismissed as the lawyers “buckling” under attacks from “liberal mobs.”
That left Linda Kerns, a solo practitioner in Philadelphia, as the primary attorney now representing the campaign on multiple legal fronts. But her in-person appearance in a Philadelphia courtroom Friday was scuttled, after the judge announced Trump’s legal team had been exposed to the coronavirus through meetings with campaign staff<https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/trump-secret-service-coronavirus-covid-19-infected-quarantine-20201113.html>.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected a request<https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/203214p.pdf> to overturn an earlier ruling on Pennsylvania’s three-day grace period for late-arriving mail ballots postmarked by Election Day — a fight Trump’s campaign has sought to take to the U.S. Supreme Court.
And defeats continued to add up elsewhere, including in Michigan, where a judge dismissed campaign accusations of fraud<https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/politics/trump-michigan-election/index.html> as “incorrect” and “not credible” and in Arizona, where Trump lawyers dropped a suit<https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/politics/arizona-trump-lawsuit/index.html> there, acknowledging the president trailed too far behind in that state’s vote tally for the legal challenge to make a difference. In Georgia, major news networks declared Biden the victor even as a state-mandated recount began.
All of that came as Joe Biden’s lead over Trump in Pennsylvania continued to widen — up to 60,000 votes — with vote counting drawing toward completion.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Trump-backed group “is cold-calling thousands of people in Pennsylvania and elsewhere and asking them if they voted in an apparent attempt to find instances of misconduct.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118621>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:03 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118621> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Sigh.<https://fusion.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/voter-integrity-fund-pennsylvania-georgia-wisconsin-trump-2020-20201113.html>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>
“Detroit judge denies request to stop election certification in Wayne County”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118619>
Posted on November 13, 2020 3:00 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118619> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Detroit Free Press:<https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/13/judge-rules-against-separate-audit-wayne-county-election/6272704002/>
Wayne County Circuit Chief Judge Timothy M. Kenny on Friday denied a request for an independent audit of the votes cast by Wayne County voters, separate from the one already being undertaken by the county’s board of canvassers.
The lawsuit, filed this week against local election officials, alleges that they oversaw a fraudulent election in Detroit<https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/09/detroit-lawsuit-misconduct-elections/6218612002/>. The lawsuit asked the court to stop the certification of the county’s election results, void the Nov. 3 election and order a new one. President-elect Joe Biden won the county by a margin<https://www.waynecounty.com/elected/clerk/election-results.aspx> of nearly 323,000 votes.
In his opinion, Kenny wrote: “It would be an unprecedented exercise of judicial activism for this Court to stop the certification process of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers.” David Fink, the attorney who represented the City of Detroit, its Election Commission and City Clerk Janice Winfrey in the case, was pleased with Kenny’s ruling. “Once again, the court record showed conclusively the Detroit City Clerk ran a fair and proper election.” David Kallman, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of two Wayne County residents, said he plans to file an emergency appeal in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
During a hearing Wednesday<https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/11/lawsuit-alleging-election-fraud-detroit-judge-promises-opinion/6253125002/>, Kallman accused local election officials of running a fraudulent election and argued that he had the right to ask the court to stop the certification of the election results….
One of the affidavits filed by a Republican challenger at TCF, who heard from other challengers that vehicles with out-of-state license plates delivered tens of thousands of ballots to TCF at 4:30 a.m., claimed that every one of these ballots were cast for president-elect Joe Biden. Kenny wrote that the affidavit was “rife with speculation and sinister motives.” The state’s deadline for returning absentee ballots is 8 p.m. on Election Day and all ballots were verified as having been cast by eligible voters before they were delivered to TCF, Thomas explained in his affidavit.
In evaluating another affidavit filed by a Republican challenger, Kenny wrote that the challenger posted on Facebook that the Democrats had planned to commit fraud on Election Day. “His predilection to believe fraud was occurring undermines his credibility as a witness,” the judge wrote.
Kenny also refuted the claim that Republican challengers were singled out in being prevented from reentering TCF when the counting area became overcrowded. During Wednesday afternoon’s hearing, Kallman resurfaced a false claim<https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/06/republican-challengers-barred-detroit-tcf/6190533002/> that went viral on social media channels and was repeated<https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/05/trump-speech-election-2020-detroit-michigan/6182170002/> by President Donald Trump in a speech last week, that election officials barred Republican challengers from observing the counting process….
Judge Kenny denied a previous request to stop the certification of Wayne County’s election results in a separate case.
Two federal cases filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan making similar allegations of election fraud are pending. One lawsuit — filed by four voters — asks the court to exclude the votes cast by Ingham<https://clerk.ingham.org/departments_and_officials/county_clerk/election_results.php>, Washtenaw<https://electionresults.ewashtenaw.org/electionreporting/nov2020/index.jsp> and Wayne<https://www.waynecounty.com/elected/clerk/election-results.aspx> county voters from the final tallies in the presidential contest and stop the certification of Michigan’s presidential electors if these counties’ votes are not excluded. That would amount to throwing out more than 1.2 million votes and would hand a victory in Michigan to President Donald Trump by a margin of over 323,000 votes. But the lawsuit faces a significant hurdle: Washtenaw’s Board of Canvassers certified<https://www.washtenaw.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1283> the county’s election results Thursday. Another lawsuit — filed by the Trump campaign — asks<https://cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/press_assets/1.-11-10-20-trump-v.-benson-w.d.-mich.-complaint-final.pdf> the court to stop the Board of State Canvassers from certifying the election results.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Why Republicans Won’t Be Able to Steal the Election for Trump”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118617>
Posted on November 13, 2020 2:56 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118617> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Vice<https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3gvvx/why-republicans-wont-be-able-to-steal-the-election-for-trump> reports.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Trump Promoting Fantasy View of His Election Challenges<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118615>
Posted on November 13, 2020 2:42 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118615> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico:<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/13/trump-interview-reelection-hopes-436432>
The unrealistic prediction from the president, published<https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-yorks-daily-memo-newsletter-exclusive-trump-talks-post-election-fight> in the Friday edition of Washington Examiner correspondent Byron York’s newsletter, represented some of Trump’s first remarks to a member of the news media since Biden was declared the winner<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/07/joe-biden-wins-presidential-election-results-2020-434654> of the election last weekend.
In his interview with York, Trump argued he was still competitive in several key swing states where Biden had already emerged victorious, saying he was “going to win Wisconsin<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/04/wisconsin-presidential-election-results-2020-433423>” — a state called for Biden last Wednesday where Trump is currently trailing by more than 20,000 votes.
In Arizona<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/04/arizona-presidential-election-results-2020-433357>, which was also called for Biden as early as last Wednesday, the race will “be down to 8,000 votes,” Trump said, even though he is behind by more than 11,000 votes there. “If we can do an audit of the millions of votes, We’ll find 8,000 votes easy. If we can do an audit, we’ll be in good shape there,” he said.
Trump went on to say he was “going to win” Georgia<https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/georgia/>, where Biden has a lead of more than 14,000 votes and which was called for him Friday afternoon. Georgia’s top election official announced<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/11/georgia-election-official-recount-presidential-results-436048> Wednesday that the state would conduct a hand recount of every ballot cast in the presidential race.
“Now we’re down to about 10,000, 11,000 votes, and we have hand counting,” Trump told York, incorrectly stating his vote deficit in Georgia. “Hand counting is the best. To do a spin of the machine doesn’t mean anything. You pick up 10 votes. But when you hand count — I think we’re going to win Georgia.”
Trump also asserted that he would win North Carolina<https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/north-carolina/>, which was called for him Friday afternoon and where he is ahead of Biden by more than 71,000 votes, and said his campaign’s litigation could result in him picking up both Michigan<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/04/michigan-presidential-election-results-2020-433395> and Pennsylvania<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/07/pennsylvania-presidential-election-results-2020-433416> — two states that were called for Biden last week where Trump trails by more than 146,000 votes and more than 60,000 votes, respectively.
Trump was less certain about the timeline for his campaign’s various legal actions, speculating that he may be able to overturn the election results in “probably two weeks, three weeks.” And despite his rosy assessments of the race, the president revealed that he entertained the prospect of losing his reelection bid at some point last week.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>
“To Stop Election-Related Misinformation, Give Election Officials the Resources They Need”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118613>
Posted on November 13, 2020 2:40 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118613> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
William Adler<https://cdt.org/insights/to-stop-election-related-misinformation-give-election-officials-the-resources-they-need/> at CDT.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Did Sean Hannity Misquote Me?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118611>
Posted on November 13, 2020 2:34 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118611> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Andrew Appel blogs<https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2020/11/13/did-sean-hannity-misquote-me/>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Donald Trump Gets a “Pants on Fire” Rating from Politifact for His Claim that “Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our poll watchers and/or vote observers to watch or observe.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118609>
Posted on November 13, 2020 2:17 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118609> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Read it here<https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/12/donald-trump/trumps-wrong-claim-election-observers-were-barred-/>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Bush Margin of Victory, FL 2000: 0.009%<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118604>
Posted on November 13, 2020 12:51 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118604> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>
[cid:image002.png at 01D6B9D1.7B245390]
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Top CEOs met to plan response to Trump’s election denial”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118602>
Posted on November 13, 2020 10:06 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118602> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>
From the AP<https://apnews.com/article/top-ceos-met-plan-response-to-trump-ae2790a11be9a73cd3216d17ce06e143>:
On Nov. 6, more than two dozen CEOs of major U.S. corporations took part in a video conference to discuss what to do if Trump refuses to leave office or takes other steps to stay in power beyond the scheduled Jan. 20 inauguration of former Vice President Joe Biden. On Saturday Biden was declared the election winner by The Associated Press and other news organizations. …
On Saturday, the day after the video meeting, the Business Roundtable, a group that represents the most powerful companies in America, including Walmart, Apple, Starbucks and General Electric, put out a statement congratulating Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. It largely reflected the conversation from Friday’s video meeting, saying the group respects Trump’s right to seek recounts and call for investigations where evidence exists….
The executives who participated in the video conference are from Fortune 500 finance, retail, media and manufacturing companies, Sonnenfeld said. But he wouldn’t identify them because they attended the meeting with the condition that their names be kept confidential. Sonnenfeld frequently speaks with CEOs<https://chiefexecutive.net/ceos-voice-concerns-in-election-aftermath/> and sets up meetings for them to discuss pressing issues.
Richard Pildes, a constitutional law professor at New York University who spoke at the video meeting, confirmed Sonnenfeld’s account, as did an executive who attended but didn’t want to be identified because he didn’t want to violate the meeting’s ground rules.
“They’re trying to be moral and effective leaders,” Glover said. “It’s a calculation of whether saying anything now can be an effective tool to making a situation better.”
The time may come for CEOs to speak out, but most are assuming that Trump’s legal challenges and threats are just theater and the change in power will take place uneventfully, Glover said.
Still, several CEOs have urged Trump to acknowledge that he’s lost, concede to Biden and end any political uncertainty.
“The votes have been counted, and the president needs to honor the result,” said Ryan Gellert, CEO of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, which has been outspoken on behalf of progressive causes such as protecting the environment.
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