Bluman v. FEC, a district court case that will be heard in May by a three-judge panel in D.C. (consisting of D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh and District Court Judges Ricardo Urbina and Rosemary Collyer, asks: (1) Do non-permanent-resident non-citizens have the First Amendment right to contribute to candidates’ campaigns? (2) Do non-permanent-resident non-citizens have […]
Archive | Elections
Why a Contested Juvenile Court Judge Election Could Matter in 2012
Although votes were cast on November, the race for juvenile court judge in Hamilton County, Ohio, has yet to be resolved. At last count, one candidate led by 23 votes, but a slightly higher number of miscast ballots were counted, and several hundred more remain in dispute. As I noted here and here, the election […]
Can It Be Illegal for Advocacy Group to “[P]rovid[e] Political Buttons to Be Worn at the Polling Place on Election Day”?
Certain kinds of electioneering materials may be banned at and near polling places on election day; that’s what the Court held in Burson v. Freeman (1992). But does this allow restraints on distributing such material at other times and places, on the theory that recipients will display (or are even intended to display) such material […]
Hamilton County Snafu — The Sixth Circuit Weighs In
This afternoon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit weighed in on the Hamilton County election snafu that produced potentially conflicting state and federal court decisions. In Hunter v. Hamilton Country Board of Elections the court largely upheld the federal district’s ruling requiring the Board of Elections to investigate whether poll worker error […]
Hamilton County Election Snafu Creates Legal Chaos
I don’t envy the Hamilton County Board of Elections. This morning they have a hearing before Judge Susan Dlott of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at which they are to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court for failing to follow a court order. Last week, Judge […]
Unconstitutional to Require Registration and Disclosure for Any Committee Spending Over $200 to Support/Oppose a Ballot Measure
So held the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday in Sampson v. Buescher: Colorado law requires that any group of two or more persons that has accepted or made contributions or expenditures exceeding $200 to support or oppose a ballot issue must register as an issue committee and report the names and addresses of anyone who contributes […]
The Return of John Kasich
I am at least somewhat happy to see that John Kasich was elected governor of Ohio on Tuesday. Back in 2000, I was one of about six people outside Kasich’s immediate family who supported his abortive bid for the presidency. I’m pretty sure that I was the only Kasich supporter at Yale Law School at […]
The Economy and the Election
Some commenters on my earlier post on the election criticize my claim that the economy determined the outcome far more than the health care bill and Obama’s other left-wing policies. I don’t deny that these factors hurt the Democrats. But the economy mattered far more. The standard economic model of midterm electoral outcomes developed by […]
The Defeat of Proposition 19
To me, the most disappointing of the many electoral results this Tuesday was the relatively narrow (54-46) defeat of California Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization initiative that I and and many other VCers endorsed. I’m not disappointed because this proves that law professors have little electoral clout. We knew that already. Rather, the disappointment is […]
Political Ignorance and the 2010 Election
Even before the election ended, some liberals argued that public ignorance explains the big Republican victories that just occurred. There is, I think, some truth to that contention. For example, a recent Bloomberg poll shows that 52% of voters thought that “middle class” federal income taxes have gone up in the last two years, even […]
The Return of Divided Government
Not all the electoral returns are in yet. But one outcome is very clear: The Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, and therefore we will get a return of divided government. I advocated divided government in 2006 (when its return forced Bush to curb some of his excesses and adopt a more […]
“An Apology from Someone Like Adler Would Be Meaningless”
The Washington Post reports on controversy surrounding allegations that Democratic Party operatives worked behind-the-scenes to get a third-party “Tea Party” candidate onto the ballot in New Jersey’s Third Congressional District in order to help re-elect first-term Congressman John Adler (What? You thought this post was about someone else?). The Post story draws on a report […]
Selling Endorsements for Campaign Cash
The Sunlight Foundation reports on Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) innovative approach to raising campaign funds: selling endorsements to other politicians. The Los Angeles-area representative, who faces ethics charges in the House for intervening on behalf of a bank in which her husband had invested heavily, has found a way to take large sums of money […]
Be Careful With Campaign Contribution Data
A commenter pointed to this OpenSecrets.org page, which seems to report that 70.8% of all federal contributions (not independent expenditures) in 2007-2008 came from business, and only 2.7% from labor (though put together the Democrats still got more than Republicans, both looking at total money and at PAC money; that’s relevant to the original post […]
The Chief Beneficiaries of Citizens United?
A CNN article by Jeffrey Toobin asserts, among other things, that The political effect of, if not motivation for, the [Citizens United] decision was clear: Citizens United looks to be a big win for Republicans, who are the likely beneficiaries of the newly lubricated corporate largesse. But is that really so? In California, one of […]