[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/14/21

[Rick Hasen]

“Trump Impeached for Inciting Insurrection”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120462>
Posted on January 14, 2021 7:16 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120462> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/trump-impeached.html>

Donald J. Trump on Wednesday became the first American president to be impeached twice, as 10 members of his party joined with Democrats in the House to charge him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in egging on a violent mob that stormed the Capitol last week.

Reconvening in a building now heavily militarized against threats from pro-Trump activists and adorned with bunting for the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., lawmakers voted 232 to 197<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/13/us/politics/trump-second-impeachment-vote.html> to approve a single impeachment article. It accused Mr. Trump of “inciting violence against the government of the United States” in his quest to overturn the election results, and called for him to be removed and disqualified from ever holding public office again.

The vote left another indelible stain on Mr. Trump’s presidency just a week before he is slated to leave office and laid bare the cracks running through the Republican Party. More members of his party<https://www.nytimes.com/article/republicans-impeaching-donald-trump.html> voted to charge the president than in any other impeachment….

The top House Republican, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, conceded in a pained speech on the floor that Mr. Trump had been to blame for the deadly assault at the Capitol<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/capitol-rioters.html>. It had forced the vice president and lawmakers who had gathered there to formalize Mr. Biden’s victory to flee for their lives.

“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” said Mr. McCarthy, one of the 138 Republicans who returned to the House floor after the mayhem and voted to reject certified electoral votes for Mr. Biden. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”

Outside the House chamber, a surreal tableau offered reminders of the rampage that gave rise to the impeachment, as thousands of armed members of the National Guard<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/inside-capitol-impeachment.html> in camouflage fatigues surrounded the complex and snaked through its halls, stacking their helmets, backpacks and weapons wherever they went. Their presence gave the proceedings a wartime feel, and evoked images of the 1860s, when the Union Army had quartered in the building.
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“Democrat Sworn in to Pa. Senate Seat After Court Battle”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120460>
Posted on January 14, 2021 7:04 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120460> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NBC Philadelphia<https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/court-battle-pennsylvania-senate-seat-election-law-jim-brewster-nicole-ziccarelli/2667262/>:

Republicans may have lost a court battle over a Pennsylvania state senate seat in western Pennsylvania, but the argument over how to count certain mail-in ballots at the heart of the case could lead to changes to the state’s election law.

Democratic state Sen. Jim Brewster won by 69 votes over Republican candidate Nicole Ziccarelli in a race to represent Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in the upper chamber of the state’s General Assembly.

But Ziccarelli asked a federal judge to change the outcome of the race, which hinged on the fact that Allegheny and Westmoreland county election officials counted ballots differently. In Allegheny County, officials ruled that mail-in ballots without a date filled in on the outer envelope would still count. In Westmoreland County, officials ruled that mail-in ballots missing the date would not count.

Brewster was finally sworn in Wednesday after the federal judge ruled earlier in the week that it was a state matter and that Brewster’s victory, which was certified by the Pennsylvania Department of State, will stand.

Ziccarelli’s lawsuit argued that the different treatment of ballots with the same deficiency amounted to a violation of voters’ equal protection right guaranteed by the Constitution.

The loss doesn’t mean that Republican state lawmakers won’t use the case as one of the main reasons that Pennsylvania’s election code needs to be cleaned up before the next election.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“How the Capitol Riot Is Affecting Corporate Political Spending”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120458>
Posted on January 14, 2021 6:57 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120458> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs.<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-capitol-riot-affecting-corporate-political-spending>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


Supreme Court Relists PA Election Cases for Its Next Conference, on 1/15<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120456>
Posted on January 13, 2021 3:23 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120456> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

SCOTUSBlog<https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/01/blockbuster-watch/#more-298554>:

Next up are two election-law cases. The petitions in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar<https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/republican-party-of-pennsylvania-v-boockvar-2/>, 20-542<https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-542.html>, and Scarnati v. Pennsylvania Democratic Party<https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/scarnati-v-pennsylvania-democratic-party/>, 20-574<https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-574.html>, involve challenges to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court<https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/1589ec07-66e0-485c-b9be-9f7a03e99643-1.pdf>’s extension of an absentee-voting deadline last year. The challengers originally sought to undo the Pennsylvania results, but after the justices declined to intervene on an expedited basis,<https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_i3dj.pdf> Republicans acknowledged in their Dec. 15 Boockvar reply brief that the case “cannot change the outcome<https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-542/163811/20201215131123457_20-542%20cert%20rb.pdf#page=13>” of the 2020 election. They argue that the court nonetheless should grant review in order to clarify the law for future elections.  Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, has already opined that “there is a strong likelihood that the [Pennsylvania] Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution<https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_i3dj.pdf#page=3>.” So they likely need to pick up only one more vote for the court to grant review.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Dark-money GOP fund funneled millions of dollars to groups that pushed voter fraud claims”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120454>
Posted on January 13, 2021 11:00 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120454> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNBC:<https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/dark-money-gop-fund-funneled-millions-groups-that-pushed-voter-fraud-claims.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar>

A dark-money group used by Republican donors funneled millions of dollars toward high-profile conservative organizations that pushed and in some cases investigated claims of election fraud either before or after Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump in November.

Many of these stances matched points that Trump and his team made as they attempted to undermine the election.

Almost all of the groups mentioned in this story denied to CNBC they were attempting to undermine the election with their own claims of fraud and voting irregularities. State and federal officials, including the former attorney general, have said there was no widespread election fraud during the 2020 presidential election.

That funding group, the Donors Trust<https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos/>, is officially labeled as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The designation allows financiers to give to the organization anonymously. That money is then channeled to other dark-money groups.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>



--
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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