| Subject: Electionlawblog news and commentary 5/4/06 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 5/4/2006, 9:10 AM |
| To: election-law |
As the VRA renewal debate heats up, I'm delighted that some of the most thoughtful legal scholars who have written about VRA renewal have agreed to guest blog on the issue. Heather Gerken (Yale), Nate Persily (Penn), Rick Pildes (NYU), and Dan Tokaji (OSU) have agreed to participate, and I hope that a few others I have invited will eventually join in. Right now, I'm waiting for the technology to be put in place to allow them to guest blog.
I have never had guest bloggers before, and I'm interested to see
how the experiment goes. I welcome reader reactions
The Washington Post offers this report on the lobbying bill passed in the House (see also this summary of the major provisions, this NY Times story, this USA Today story and this story in The Hill.
One of the interesting things to watch as lobbying reform goes to a
House-Senate conference committee is what happens to the 527 campaign
finance limits that are now in the House bill but face the threat of
filibuster in the Senate.
Here
is a must-read post by Bob Bauer for those interested in the politics
of VRA renewal.
See stories from the Cleveland Plain Dealer here, here, here, and here.
The House Judiciary Committee holds two hearings tomorrow on VRA renewal. Panel 1 includes Gerry Hebert, Roger Clegg, and Debo Adegbile. Panel 2 includes Rena Comisac, Chris Norby, Karen Naraski, and Dr. James Thomas Tucker. [UPDATE: By clicking on Panel 1 above and then each witness's name, you can download the prepared testimony.]
I have been invited to testify at the May 9 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I do not know who else has been invited to testify at this hearing. I hope to talk about ways to strengthen the bill so that the Supreme Court won't strike it down as unconstitutional.-- Rick Hasen William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law Loyola Law School 919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211 (213)736-1466 - voice (213)380-3769 - fax rick.hasen@lls.edu http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org