Election Law

DEFEATING DE FACTO DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS

Neil L. Sobol

Abstract In a democracy, voting is not only an important civic duty but also a right that governments owe to their citizens. However, by operation of law, forty-eight states deny voting rights to individuals based on criminal convictions. Activists and scholars attack de jure disenfranchisement as an improper collateral consequence that disproportionately impacts people of […]

The Enforcement Act of 1870, Federal Jurisdiction Over Election Contests, And The Political Question Doctrine

Michael T. Morley

Abstract A lingering provision of a major Reconstruction Era law, theEnforcement Act of 1870, 28 U.S.C. § 1344, grants federal courtsjurisdiction over election contests arising from alleged FifteenthAmendment violations, except for the positions of presidential elector,member of Congress, and state legislator. Some courts have erroneouslyconstrued this provision as categorically denying the federal judiciarysubject-matter jurisdiction over […]

One Person, One Weighted Vote

Written by: Ashira Pelman Ostrow

Abstract This Article argues that weighted voting should be used to comply with the constitutional one-person, one-vote requirement while preserving representation for political units on the legislative body. First, this Article demonstrates that weighted voting satisfies the quantitative one-person, one-vote requirement by equalizing the mathematic weight of each vote. Second, this Article demonstrates that weighted […]

A New Era for Judicial Retention Elections: The Rise of and Defense Against Unfair Political Attacks

Written by: Hon. Barbara J. Pariente & F. James Robinson, Jr.

Abstract The judicial-merit selection and retention system for appointing judges to the bench was designed to emphasize selection based on the judge’s qualifications and to minimize the influence of partisanship and politics in both the selection and retention process. Since 2010, increasingly strident and frequent political attacks on state supreme court justices facing judicial-merit retention […]

Vitaliy Kats, Because, the Internet: The Limits of Online Campaign Finance Disclosure

During the 2011–2012 election cycle, Shaun McCutcheon contributed $33,088 to sixteen different candidates for federal office.  McCutcheon’s donations complied with the base limits the Federal Election Commission (FEC) set for contributions to individual candidates.McCutcheon wanted to contribute more but was barred by the FEC’s aggregate limit on contributions.In June of 2012, McCutcheon and the Republication […]

Albert W. Alschuler, Limiting Political Contributions After McCutcheon, Citizens United, and SpeechNow

There was something unreal about the opinions in McCutcheon v. FEC. These opinions examined a series of strategies for circumventing the limits on contributions to candidates imposed by federal election law, but they failed to notice that the limits were no longer breathing. The D.C. Circuit’s decision in SpeechNow.org v. FEC had created a far […]

Chad Flanders, Election Law Behind a Veil of Ignorance

Election law struggles with the question of neutrality, not only with its possibility—can election rules truly be neutral between parties?—but also with its definition. What does it mean for election laws to be ―neutral‖? This Article examines one form of election law neutrality, found in what it terms ―veil of ignorance rules.‖ Such rules are […]

Akhil Reed Amar, Bush, Gore, Florida, and the Constitution

61 Fla. L. Rev. 945 (2009) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Ten years ago this week, Dunwody Lecturer Cass Sunstein stood at this podium and offered some thoughts about the then-recent impeachment of President Clinton. Professor Sunstein titled his remarks Lessons from a Debacle: From Impeachment to Reform. Today I shall share with you […]

Erwin Chemerinsky, The Meaning of Bush v. Gore: Thoughts on Professor Amar's Analysis

| | | | INTRODUCTION :: It is tempting to blame the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore for the evils the Bush Administration inflicted on the nation. If only Al Gore had become president, there would not have been the disastrous war in Iraq or the enormous deficit-spending to fund it, […]

Richard L. Hasen, Bush v. Gore and the Lawlessness Principle: A Comment on Professor Amar

61 Fla. L. Rev. 979 (2009) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Akhil Amar begins his impressive Dunwody Lecture by questioning whether there “are any new things left to say about the Bush-Gore episode.” 1 It is a legitimate question to ask, given the torrent of scholarship since the 2000 Florida debacle. In some ways, […]

Ellen D. Katz, From Bush v. Gore to Namudno: A Response to Professor Amar

61 Fla. L. Rev. 991 (2009) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: In his Dunwody Lecture, Professor Akhil Amar invites us to revisit the Bush v. Gore controversy and consider what went wrong. This short essay responds to Professor Amar by taking up his invitation and looking at the decision through a seemingly improbable lens, […]

Nelson Lund, Bush v. Gore at The Dawning of the Age of Obama

61 Fla. L. Rev. 1001 (2009) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: As Akhil Amar reminds us, hundreds of law professors denounced the Bush v. Gore majority as propagandists who suppressed the facts and used their power “to act as political partisans, not judges of a court of law”; as he also notes, a few […]

Simon A. Rodell, False Statements v. Free Debate: Is the First Amendment a License to Lie in Elections?

60 Fla. L. Rev. 947 (2008) | | | | TEXT :: Rickert v. Public Disclosure Commission, 168 P.3d 826 (Wash. 2007) The petitioner, Marilou Rickert, ran as a Green Party candidate for a seat in the Washington state senate. During her campaign, Rickert distributed a brochure that falsely represented the voting record of her […]

Jessica Furst, Money and Politics: Will Expenditure Limits Take Candidates out of the Money Race And Put Them Back in the Office?

59 Fla. L. Rev. 873 (2007) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: On March 4, 1897, William McKinley capped a prominent career in public service when he became America’s twenty-fifth President. Perhaps most onlookers attributed the victory to McKinley’s character, intellect, or years of political experience. However, those watching a bit closer may have correctly […]

Sandra Day O'Connor, Remarks on Judicial Independence

58 Fla. L. Rev. 1 (2006) | | | | TEXT :: Dedication of the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center, University of Florida, Levin College of Law, Friday, September 9, 2005 It is a great pleasure to be here at the University of Florida to dedicate the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center. Your new building […]

Jessica C. Furst, Election Law: "Three's a Crowd": Supreme Court Protection for the Two-Party System

58 Fla. L. Rev. 921 (2006) | | | | TEXT :: Oklahoma’s semiclosed primary law permits a political party to invite voters registered as Independent to vote in that party’s primary election. The Libertarian Party of Oklahoma (LPO) notified state election officials of its intent to open its primary to all voters, regardless of […]

Stephen A. Siegel, The Conscientious Congressman's Guide to the Electoral Count Act of 1887

56 Fla. L. Rev. 541 (2004) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Electoral vote counting is the oldest activity of the national government and among the oldest questions of constitutional law. It was Congress’s first task when a quorum appeared in the nation’s new legislature on April 6, 1789. It has happened every four years […]

Stephen B. Presser, A Conservative Comment on Professor Crump

56 Fla. L. Rev. 789 (2004) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: My assignment was to comment on Professor Crump’s article from a conservative perspective, to complement the response to his article from Dean Dennis Shields, who had been instrumental in administering the University of Michigan School of Law’s affirmative action policies approved in Grutter […]