Subject: news of the day 2/3/05
From: Rick Hasen
Date: 2/3/2005, 8:56 AM
To: election-law

The New 527 Bill Introduced in Congress

You can find the bill itself here. News coverage in The New York Times; Bloomberg News; A.P.; BNA (subscription required); Roll Call (subscription required); NPR. Bob Bauer also offers this critical analysis of the bill. (In somewhat related analysis, David Broder writes this column praising McCain-Feingold.)

Roll Call reports that the bill may be on the fast track. I certainly hope that when hearings are held on the bill, members of Congress will seriously consider and debate the constitutional question whether it is permissible to limit contributions to 527s that engage only in independent spending. As readers of this blog know, I believe there is a serious constitutional question lurking in this kind of legislation.

Those interested in the question of this bill and incumbent protection should listen to Senator McCain's statement to Peter Overby not in the NPR story linked above but in today's hourly newscast: "Some billionaire decided he or she doesn't like you in office, and they decide to form up a 527 and contribute 10, 20 million dollars and dive bomb into your district."


Interesting Opinion from Utah on a Party's Ability to Replace a Nominee in a General Election

Thanks to Richard Winger for passing along this link to Adams v. Swenson.


"Spano Loses Court Ruling in Senate Recount Battle"

The New York Times offers this report. The majority opinion and dissent are available here. Thanks to the many readers for passing this information along.


More on San Diego Mayoral Election Decision

See coverage in the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Still no indication here regarding how the judge ruled on the equal protection issue, but the end of the Trib story suggests the judge may have based his decision in part on laches.


"Shelley Hearing Postponed"

The Sacramento Bee offers this report.


Judge Rules Against San Diego Mayoral Election Challenge

The A.P. report is here . A two and a half minute video excerpt of the ruling from the bench is here. >From what I've seen, there is no indication of whether, or how, the judge ruled on what I consider to be the most important question: whether the registrar's treatment of ballots creates and equal protection problem under Bush v. Gore. I expect that this will be appealed and the legal question ultimately decided by the California Supreme Court.


"New Rules to Be Drafted for Write-In Candidates"

The San Diego Union-Tribune offers this report. 
-- 
Professor Rick Hasen 
Loyola Law School 
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