Law Commons^™

Politics In The Non-Political Branch, Justin L. Swanson

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

Across the country there exists a patchwork of legal systems by which judges are appointed retained. In some states, like Illinois, it is a fully political process where judges actively campaign for election to the bench. But a majority of states, including Nebraska, have adopted the Merit Selection System, which attempts to remove politics from these processes. Nevertheless, politics can enter into the retention votes. And when they do, it can be extremely difficult for judges to overcome.

The Impact Of Connecticut's Clean Election Law: An Empirical Quick Look, A. E. Rodriguez, Lesley A. Denardis

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

The State of Connecticut’s General Assembly passed a Clean Elections Law in 2005. In this paper we conduct a preliminary appraisal of the law’s performance based on recently published data on the voting results of the 2010 and 2008 state-wide office elections. The Clean Elections Law was considered among the most stringent in the nation at the time of its passage. It established full public financing for all elections to state offices, including the state legislature. The law applied to primaries as well as general elections. It allowed for supplemental monies in unbalanced contests pitting a privately-financed candidate against a …

The Elected Presidency In A New Normal, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asst Prof Eugene Tan shared his views on the outcome of the recently concluded Presidential Election and commented on the need for both the incoming President and the Government to evolve the office of the President in a manner that is in sync with Singaporeans' expectations.

Television May Be Game-Changer, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

To wid presidential candidates will have to secure strong support across the political divide

Is There A Truly Independent Candidate?, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant Professor of Law Eugene Tan provides an analysis of the three possible presidential election candidates, the Government's role in endorsing its preferred candidate and how the presidential election campaign is likely to pan out.

Anonymity And Democratic Citizenship, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Many aspects of modern democratic life are or can be performed anonymously – voting, financial contributions, petition signing, political speech and debate, communication with and lobbying of officials, and so forth. But is it desirable for citizens to perform such tasks anonymously? Anonymity frees people from social pressures associated with observation and identifiability, but does this freedom produce behavior that is democratically beneficial? What, in short, is the effect of anonymity on the behavior of democratic citizens, and how should we evaluate it?

In this paper, I attempt a first pass answer to these questions by turning to both democratic …

Post Election, Let The Healing Begin, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant professor of law Eugene Tan notes in his commentary that a more complex global environment, a rapidly changing Singapore and the challenges it faces will require political parties and Singaporeans alike to mature politically so that Singapore's politics will not limit its potential as a nation.

Key Issues That Have Not Been Addressed, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The last nine days of hustings period have provided for a most engaging electoral campaign in recent memory. There seems to be a nascent but growing political consciousness and Singaporeans are not shy to express their political inclinations and loyalties.

Do Judicial Elections Facilitate Popular Constitutionalism; Can They?, Nicole Mansker, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Optical Scan Voting Machine And The 65 And Older Staten Island Voter, Matthew C. Desaro

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was signed into law with the explicit goals of: (1) creating a program by which States could utilize federal funds to replace punch card voting systems, (2) establishing the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to act as the administrator for Federal elections and provide assistance to States in the compliance with the new Federal election standards, and (3) establishing those new Federal standards for which the States would now have to abide. For New York State, the last State to conform to the new requirements and only after a court order was issued …

Shaping Up For A Landmark Election, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asst Prof Eugene Tan talks about significant developments he hopes to see in the upcoming General Elections.

Changes May Mean Slaying Sacred Cows, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Changing may means slaying sacred crows

Racial Redistricting In A Post-Racial World, Gilda R. Daniels

All Faculty Scholarship

The 2011 redistricting will provide some interesting challenges for minority voting rights. How can we preserve minority electoral opportunities and gains in the wake of Bartlett v. Strickland and Georgia v. Ashcroft? What is the impact on future voting rights litigation and are coalition district claims viable as an opportunity to continue the electoral gains made since the passage of the Voting Rights Act? Are majority-minority districts safe from legislative backsliding? The Supreme Court's construed admonitions against race-conscious redistricting in recent cases may become cautionary tales. This Article discusses the central role the Voting Rights Act should play in preserving …

Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting Summary Of Legislation 2011, Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting

California Assembly

No abstract provided.

How Serpentine Districts Became Law: Michigan Redistricting In 2011, Jocelyn Benson

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Campaign Disclosure And Tax-Exempt Entities: A Quick Repair To The Regulatory Plumbing, Donald B. Tobin

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that there are some quick regulatory fixes the Treasury can implement to ensure that tax-exempt organizations are operating within the rules and that aggressive tax planning is not being used as a way to obfuscate rules for political organizations requiring disclosure. The article recommends that Treasury promulgate new regulations to require disclosure by tax-exempt entities of expenditures and contributions in excess of $25,000. The article also proposes that Treasury institute procedures to require tax-exempt organizations to file for exempt status, and to provide procedures for ensuring that these organizations meet the requirements in the statute and are …

The Gerrymandering Orgy Begins, Herman Schwartz

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Charities And Lobbying: Institutional Rights In The Wake Of Citizens United, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Journal Articles

One of the many aftershocks of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Citizens United v. FEC is that the decision may raise constitutional questions for the long-standing limits on speech by charities. There has been much scholarly attention both before and after that decision on the limit for election-related speech by charities, but much less attention has been paid to the relating lobbying speech limit. This article seeks to close that gap by exploring that latter limit and its continued viability in the wake of Citizens United. I conclude that while Citizens United by itself does not undermine the limit …

If Not A Commercial Republic? Political Economy In The United States After Citizens United, David A. Westbrook

Journal Articles

In

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , a majority of the Supreme Court conceived the United States to be an oligarchy and ruled accordingly. What this decision might come to mean for political economy in the United States is explored through three interrelated responses to the decision. In the first,

Citizens United is a turning point for constitutional law scholarship, and by extension, for what is expected from our legal system. After

Citizens United , legal scholars may abandon the idea that the Court takes legal argument seriously, and that law thereby constrains, as well as expresses, social privilege. …

Making A List And Checking It Twice, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Justice Kennedy To The Rescue?, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Looking For A Few Good Philosopher Kings: Political Gerrymandering As A Question Of Institutional Competence, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The redistricting season is about to begin in full swing, and with it will come renewed calls for the federal courts, and particularly the U. S. Supreme Court, to aggressively review the work of the political branches. This is an intriguing puzzle. Since the early 1960’s, the federal courts have regulated questions of politics aggressively. They have done this even in the face of difficult questions of political representation. The courts have taken sides, to be sure, but these can only be described as acts of volition and will, not constitutional law. The leading case is Reynolds v. Sims. This …

Whiskey, Soldiers, And Voting: Western Virginia Elections In The 1790s, Jud Campbell

Law Faculty Publications

Editor's Note: Elections in eighteenth-century Virginia were conducted quite differently than current elections. In this article, the author presents revealing descriptions of early elections in Montgomery County, Virginia immediately following the birth of the United States. The behavior and motivations of the electorate, as well as the candidates, provide interesting insight regarding the social structure o/that era.

Campaign Speech Law With A Twist: When The Government Is The Speaker, Not The Regulator, Helen Norton

Publications

Although government entities frequently engage in issue-related campaign speech on a variety of contested ballot and legislative measures, this fact has been entirely overlooked in contemporary First Amendment debates over campaign speech law specifically and government speech more generally. The Supreme Court's "campaign speech" and "government speech" dockets have focused to date on claims by private parties that the government has restricted or silenced their speech in violation of the First Amendment. In contrast, disputes over what this Article calls "governmental campaign speech" involve Free Speech Clause and other challenges by private parties who seek instead to silence the government's …

Plan B For Campaign-Finance Reform: Can The Fcc Help Save American Politics After Citizens United?, Lili Levi

Articles

No abstract provided.

Citizens United V. Fec: Departure From Precedent Opens The Gate To "Phantom" Political Speakers, Esther Houseman

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

The Unenforceable Corrupt Contract: Corruption And Nineteenth Century Contract Law, Zephyr Teachout

Faculty Scholarship

This paper explores the 19th century practice of courts refusing to enforce "corrupt" contracts as against public policy.

Case For Calling An Article V Convention, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legitimate Absenteeism: The Unconstitutionality Of The Caucus Attendance Requirement, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

What Do We Want In A Presidential Primary? An Election Law Perspective, Chad Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

Although the 2008 presidential primaries were in many ways a resounding success in terms of turnout, attention, and sheer excitement, many noted the pressing need for reform. States were rushing to hold their primaries sooner than ever, giving rise to “Super-Duper Tuesday,” where twenty-four states had their primaries on the same day. The Democratic nominee at one point looked like it might be decided by the votes of so-called “Superdelegates” - party regulars beholden to no one. As the Democratic nomination contest wore on, Rush Limbaugh, in “Operation Chaos,” encouraged his “dittoheads” to raid the party primaries of the Democrats, …