If we had a system where U.S. Supreme Court Justices were elected, then it seems to me that it would be perfectly proper for the voters to vote Justices out of office if they thought the Justices' votes on Citizens United, or D.C. v. Heller, or a wide range of other cases were unsound interpretations of the Constitution -- and I say this as someone who agrees with the majorities in Citizens United and Heller. We don't have such a system at the U.S. Supreme Court level; that may be good or it may be bad, but we don't.
But in many states, we do have such a system. And I see no reason why the people of the state, in whose name the state constitution is created, can't act to remove their servants based on those servants' highly contestable interpretations of that state's constitution.
Eugene
-----Original Message-----
From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu [mailto:election-law-
bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Trevor Potter
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 7:14 PM
To: rick.hasen@lls.edu; election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] more news II 11/1/10
Jim Bopp writes:
I say there is nothing frightening about holding public officials accountable for
their conduct in office. Judges are supposed to faithfully apply the law and not
use their judicial power to impose their own personal policy preferences. These
judges imposed their own personal policy preferences, thereby violating their
oath of office, and should pay the price. Good riddance to judicial activists.
_________________________________________________________________
________________
Good thing Supreme Court Justices' opinions are not subject to voter approval,
or Jim would lose his Citizens United majority!
There is no principled difference between subjecting Iowa Justices to voter
retribution for interpreting the Iowa Constitution and proposing the same fate
for US Supreme court justices--yet Jim on this list serve only days ago was
bemoaning even subjecting constitutional decisions (Citizens United) to polling
scrutiny.
I know consistency is the hobgoblin of narrow minds, but still...
Trevor Potter
________________________________
From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu on behalf of JBoppjr@aol.com
Sent: Mon 11/1/2010 8:16 PM
To: rick.hasen@lls.edu; election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] more news II 11/1/10
Rick Hasen says:
"New Iowa Poll: Voters tilt toward axing justices"
Frightening news
<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101031/NEWS09/10310356/Ne
w-Iowa-Poll-Voters-tilt-toward-axing-justices> from Iowa (via Wash Wire
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/11/01/iowa-voters-split-on-removing-
state-justices-for-gay-marriage-
ruling/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A
+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29> ).
Posted by Rick Hasen at 11:30 AM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017724.html>
I say there is nothing frightening about holding public officials accountable for
their conduct in office. Judges are supposed to faithfully apply the law and not
use their judicial power to impose their own personal policy preferences. These
judges imposed their own personal policy preferences, thereby violating their
oath of office, and should pay the price. Good riddance to judicial activists. Jim
Bopp
In a message dated 11/1/2010 4:13:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
hasenr@gmail.com writes:
November 01, 2010
"Justices won't take up sequel to Citizens United decision"
Law.com's "Supreme Court Insider" reports
<http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleSCI.jsp?id=1202474248905&src=EMC-
Email&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&pt=Supreme%20Court%20
Insider&cn=20101101sci&kw=Justices%20won%27t%20hear%20sequel%20to%2
0Citizens%20United%20decision> .
Posted by Rick Hasen at 12:54 PM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017732.html>
Federal District Court in Minnesota Rejects Request for TRO in Tea Party
Garb /"Please ID Me" Button Lawsuit
You can read the judge's order here
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/Minnesota%20Majority%20order.pdf> .
Posted by Rick Hasen at 12:38 PM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017731.html>
Control of the Senate
Though Senator Cornyn seems to concede
<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/126697-cornyn-will-
probabaly-take-two-cycles-for-gop-to-get-senate> that Republicans will not
take the Senate in this election, if it is very close there are open questions about
whether Sen. Murkowski, if she is reelected, will caucus
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44481.html> with the
Republicans. There is also some nervousness
<http://elections.firedoglake.com/2010/10/28/fdls-election-projection-
challenge-place-your-bets/> expressed by Democrats that Sen. Lieberman could
caucus with Republicans.
More to the point for this blog, I think it is fairly likely we won't know
the results of the U.S. Senate races in Alaska or Washington state by Wednesday
morning, unless the polling of those races has been way off. So things may up in
the air for a while.
Posted by Rick Hasen at 12:34 PM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017730.html>
"The voter fraud & intimidation stories you won't hear about on Fox"
interesting item <http://mediamatters.org/research/201011010027>
from Media Matters.
Posted by Rick Hasen at 12:16 PM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017729.html>
"CPA finds solid business leader support for corporate political
disclosure and accountability in new survey"
See this press release
<http://www.politicalaccountability.net/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/
4088> .
Posted by Rick Hasen at 12:00 PM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017727.html>
"Dead Voters" and the Early Vote
In writing about the "dead voter" non-phenomenon a few days ago
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017683.html> , I mentioned that despite a
few real examples, "dead voters" far more often either aren't dead, aren't
voters, or are different people altogether from those flagged in state records.
I should have added that even finding real deceased voters doesn't
always reveal unlawful activity. For example, legitimate voters have died after
<http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-08-24/news/1995236093_1_voting-
machines-vote-fraud-criminal-conspiracy/2> election day. And a timely new
Virginia Attorney General's opinion
<http://www.oag.state.va.us/OPINIONS/2010opns/10-104-Lind.pdf> reminds
me that early voting provides yet another category of "dead voters" without
fraud: voters who cast legitimate ballots before election day but then pass away
before the polls close. With the increase in non-polling-place voting more
generally, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more of these anecdotes
cropping up.
Posted by Justin Levitt at 11:52 AM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017728.html>
"Handbook on Corporate Political Activity: Emerging Corporate
Governance Issues"
The Conference Board has issued this report <http://www.conference-
board.org/publications/publicationdetail.cfm?publicationid=1867> .
Posted by Rick Hasen at 11:41 AM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017726.html>
Speechnow: The Glass is More than Half Full
The cert denial press release
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/newsroom/detail/us-supreme-court-
declines-to-review-speechnoworg-free-speech-case> .
Posted by Rick Hasen at 11:37 AM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017725.html>
"New Iowa Poll: Voters tilt toward axing justices"
Frightening news
<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101031/NEWS09/10310356/Ne
w-Iowa-Poll-Voters-tilt-toward-axing-justices> from Iowa (via Wash Wire
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/11/01/iowa-voters-split-on-removing-
state-justices-for-gay-marriage-
ruling/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A
+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29> ).
Posted by Rick Hasen at 11:30 AM
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017724.html>
--
Rick Hasen
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
919 Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211
(213)736-1466
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org <http://electionlawblog.org/>
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