Today under the auspices of @UCLA_Law #SafeguardingDemocracyProject, an ad hoc cross-ideological diverse committee has issued a major report: "24 for ’24: Urgent Recommendations in Law, Media, Politics, and Tech for Fair and Legitimate 2024 Elections." /1 law.ucla.edu/sites/default/…
Back in March, the UCLA Law Safeguarding Democracy Project held a conference, Can American Democracy Survive the 2024 Elections? /2law.ucla.edu/academics/cent…

About to be done producing free content for Elon here. Might just keep up automated tweets linking to blog posts. Find me @rickhasen@mastodon.online Gonna need a lot of help here. Thank you all

I'm not so sure.

https://twitter.com/JeremyStahl/status/1593676525265567744

Garland has a lot of control over who gets appointed as special counsel. He can pick someone with integrity and respect on both sides of the aisle. And someone who can act quickly. He understands how Mueller faltered.

I do not believe anything in the RNC consent decree prevented the RNC from pursuing litigation over election rules.
There are other reasons by election litigation has exploded, nearly tripling in the period since Bush v. Gore in 2000.
A few explanations:

https://twitter.com/whignewtons/status/1590122092783366150

1. The 2000 election taught political operatives that in close elections, it may be possible to litigate to victory. That's especially true in a system that is decentralized and partisan, where there are lots of discretionary decisions to be made over how elections are run. /2

And here's the brief of the state respondents in Moore v. Harper (with the great Don Verrilli on the brief) supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2… I'm just about to dive into the state brief, but the non-state brief (supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2…) is terrific. It demolishes the text, practice and history arguments in favor of the "independent state legislature" doctrine that should convince any serious originalist.

My New Paper: “Donald Trump Should Remain Deplatformed from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube Despite the High Bar That Platforms Should Apply to the Question of Deplatforming Political Figures”
Free download @SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… This short paper is prepared for this week's upcoming conference/webinar, "Should Donald Trump Be Returned to Social Media?" cosponsored by @Stanford and @UCLA_Law.
Free registration: electionlawblog.org/?p=132250

I'm going to be live tweeting this morning's Supreme Court arguments in Merrill v. Milligan starting in a few minutes. The case threatens the vitality of one of the remaining tools to protect minority voters: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Follow this thread: So far there is a problem with the audio getting through on the Court website.....
Not an auspicious beginning

So I had one of the worst customer experiences at a hotel last night at the @Marriott University Park in Salt Lake City. (Worse than #APSAonFire). A few tweets on what happened, but first a video of how my evening went: I had a crazy schedule: I had to prepare for a university lecture. Also had to finish up congressional testimony and work on symposium paper. So I ordered food to be delivered so I could work through dinner. Met my dasher in the lobby and my key didn't work to get back in. 2/x

Friends—-found a box of my baseball cards from the 1970s. What’s the best way to figure out what they are worth and not be ripped off? Thanks? Ditto 1970s comic books and Star Trek memorabilia. Thank you!

Leonard Leo's "Honest Elections Project" files Supreme Court brief arguing state legislatures are not constrained by even state constitutions protecting voting rights when they regulate federal elections. supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2… And, unsurprisingly, ALEC takes the same position---state legislatures should be unconstrained (apparently not only unconstrained by state courts but also "federal judges"):
supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2…

I've been meaning to comment for a while on @derektmuller's claims that journalists are not only getting it wrong in understanding the risks of the independent state legislature doctrine (at issue in the Moore v. Harper case), but intentionally so. 1/x

https://twitter.com/derektmuller/status/1551022374966935552

To begin with, Moore v. Harper is a big deal. nytimes.com/2022/06/06/us/…. It's a big deal because among other things it could fundamentally rework the division of power between state courts and state legislatures in protecting voting rights 2/x

I am beyond thrilled to announce that I will serve as Director of the new "Safeguarding Democracy Project" @UCLA_Law. SafeguardingDemocracyProject.org. Here is the mission statement: As concerns about the undermining of our electoral system mount, SDP will promote research, collaboration and advocacy aimed at ensuring free and fair elections in the U.S. conducted in accordance with democratic norms and the rule of law.

Breaking and Analysis: Supreme Court Will Hear Moore v. Harper, the Independent State Legislature Theory Case from North Carolina; This Case Could Severely Curtail the Ability of State Courts to Protect Voting Rights and Stop Partisan Gerrymandering electionlawblog.org/?p=130322 The Supreme Court today just agreed to hear Moore v. Harper, an “independent state legislature” theory case from North Carolina.

Analysis: Supreme Court in EPA Case, Like the OSHA Case Earlier This Term, Shows The Court is Not Really “Textualists” and Applies Statutory Canons Reflecting Its Values electionlawblog.org/?p=130318
A thread: Dissenting today in West Virginia v. EPA, Justice Kagan writes: “Some years ago, I remarked that “[w]e’re all textualists now.”. It seems I was wrong. The current Court is textualist only when being so suits it.”

.@HillaryClinton calls Supreme Court Dobbs abortion decision “arrogant,” sees it as a “retreat” from an “inclusive, pluralistic society” #AspenIdeasFestival .@HillaryClinton says that the level of surveillance and intrusion in women’s’ lives post-Dobbs will provoke a political reaction, but not sure how long it will take. She predicts an attempt at a federal abortion ban. #AspenIdeasFestival

.@jelani9 talks about the underestimating by Democrats of the assault on voting rights in the U.S. and how serious the problem is. #AspenIdeasFestival .@jmartNYT says Biden’s first year agenda belies notion that voting rights was a priority #AspenIdeasFestival

In some ways today is the most important January 6 hearing yet, because it features evidence of Trump's attempts to manipulate federal law enforcement to help steal the election. My thread on today's hearing begins here. 🧵 Liz Cheney ties the efforts by Jeffrey Clark to get DOJ to support false claims of fraud tied into the fake slate of electors being pushed in state legislatures to try to blow up a fair count of the electoral college votes in Congress.

6-3 SCOTUS decision expanding gun rights, with three liberal Justices dissenting: supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…

BRUEN From my very quick look, the most important 3 pages in the guns case (Bruen) is Justice Kavanaugh's 3 page concurrence joined by the Chief Justice. It seeks to limit the reach of the majority, and reaffirms limits on gun rights in 43 states.

Chair Thompson of @January6thCmte pointing out the key role of state and local election officials in doing the right thing---it's what happens when you have a decentralized system of election administration, many often partisan officials. On this the U.S. is a great outlier. I've written this piece at @HarvLRev Forum on how state or local election officials could subvert election outcomes in 2024 given our decentralized, partisan system of election administration: harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/upl…

Starting here with my live-tweeting the @January6thCmte hearings. My first point: the most important audience for these hearings are the 10+ Republican Senators who are poised to enact reforms to make the next attempt at election subversion less likely. washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0… As @sahilkapur reported last night, there's an actual chance that many of the paths to election subversion could be cut-off by a bill that a bipartisan group of Senators is closing in on this week: nbcnews.com/politics/congr…

I've read this thread and I think @LeahLitman and @ProfMMurray have the better of the argument that gay rights, contraception and more will be on the block for many of the SCOTUS majority members washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

https://twitter.com/OrinKerr/status/1521986585172004867

years ago I wrote a piece in the @EmoryLawJournal about how Alito likes to plant "time bombs" knowing that dicta or reasoning will lead to a desired place in a few years. The draft opinion, as Leah and Melissa show, is full of them.