| Subject: [EL] Electionlawblog news and commentary 4/18/11 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 4/17/2011, 8:26 PM |
| To: Election Law |
Erwin Chemerinksy and James Sample have written this
must-read oped in the NY Times, which begins:
"LEGAL elites must come to terms with a reality driven by the
grass-roots electorate: judicial elections are here to stay.
Given this reality, we should focus on balancing important First
Amendment rights to financially support campaigns with due
process concerns about fair trials." The authors argue that the
Court should recognize the constitutionality of spending limits
in judicial elections. (More from Sample on some of the points
in this oped here.)
While I agree with the first part of the thesis (judicial
elections are here to stay, and indeed very popular---the
movement to appointment procedures don't seem to be making
headway), I have a hard time believing that the current Supreme
Court would be open to an argument for spending limits in
judicial elections. In Citizens United, Justice at Stake
made an excellent
pitch in an amicus brief for the Court to leave the
constitutionality of spending limits open in judicial elections,
especially given Caperton. Justice Kennedy didn't bite
then, even writing an unconvincing attempt to
distinguish Caperton in CU, and I'm skeptical
about whether he'd ever entertain the argument.
The
incompetence of the Wisconsin election official in the WI
Supreme Court race shows why we need stricter voter i.d. laws.
See this
column in the OC Register, which describes Michael
Warnken's crusade for smaller legislative districts.
Jeff
Mapes: "Nobody wants to claim credit for a bill that would
neuter the Independent Party by saying it could no longer use
the word 'independent.' That's like telling a showgirl she can
stay in the business as long as she wears a burka."
By Ciara Torres-Spelliscy has written this
oped for Oregon Live.
The Arizona Republic offers this
report.
USA Today offers this
report. [Disclosure: I am one of the lawyers for Mr.
Carrigan.]
See here
(via Doug
Pennington).
WaPo reports.
AP offers this
report.