1/23/21  //  Commentary

Well, this is it for Versus Trump, folks. Trump ain't President anymore! He doesn't even have a twitter account. What a way to end. Charlie and Jason bring back Easha to discuss the short and long term impact of January insurrection. They then reflect on the big picture. After all, we've been podcasting about legal cases involving Trump for almost four years. What in the world happened? Listen now!

1/11/21  //  Commentary

On this week's Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss the madness of last week and what might happen next for impeachment, cirminal charges against Trump, and more. They are then joined by Take Care publisher Joshua Matz to discuss his views on impeachment and Trump's legal legacy. Listen now!

12/26/20  //  Commentary

On this week's Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss the vote of the Electoral College and the Supreme Court's unanimous rejection of Texas's longshot bid to overturn the result of the election. Happy holidays!

11/17/20  //  Commentary

On this week's Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss the status of Trump's legal challenges to the election (going nowhere) and the Trump Administration's dangerous and illegal refusal to designate Biden as the President-elect and therefore give his team resources for a smooth transition. Listen now!

11/11/20  //  Commentary

Lawyers who bring cases without evidence solely to harass or delay should be sanctioned. It's what Justice Scalia would have wanted.

11/8/20  //  Commentary

On this week's Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss the (frivolous) legal challenges to come. They are then joined by Public Citizen's Matthew Seligman to learn what happened with all those last-minute ballots, and what might happen in ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court.

1/28/18  //  Daily Update

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered all 18 Republican-drawn districts to be redrawn, following a finding that they violate the Constitution. Potential citizenship questions on the 2020 Census could shift the balance of political power towards rural areas and give Republicans a new advantage in drawing electoral boundaries.

1/14/18  //  Daily Update

The White House disbands the "Election Integrity" Commission led by Vice President Pence and Kris Kobach.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's voter fraud commission has not been in communication since September, and members are not sure why. The Department of Homeland Security, the Election Assistance Commission and voting equipment industry and nonprofit groups met to launch an election security Sector Coordinating Council.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

Some Alabama voters have received erroneous messages saying that they are not registered to vote. The D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge to separate federal campaign contribution limits in primary and general elections.

11/26/17  //  Daily Update

A member of the President's election fraud commission announced that he is seeking an injunction requiring the commission to release working documents. DOJ officials indicated the commission will not meet again until next year.

10/31/17  //  Daily Update

The Congressional Accountability Office will investigate the President's voter fraud commission. Commentators and the Commission's Democratic members remain frustrated by its lack of transparency.

3/22/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

In the landmark Texas Voter ID case, DOJ has begun its official retreat from the protection of minority voting rights. This is the wrong decision and an ominous sign for the future.

9/27/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Supreme Court will soon hear a flood of election-related cases, yet one if its most important doctrines for deciding these cases remains remarkably opaque. So I will try to unpack and explain it.

6/27/19  //  Quick Reactions

The Court’s decision in Rucho will have profound and disastrous implications for the 2020 redistricting cycle and beyond. But it may also foreshadow the endgame for Section 2

9/17/18  //  Commentary

A major effort to bar independent research into the efficacy and security of American voting equipment is underway right now.

7/10/17  //  Commentary

In a challenge to Texas's strict voter ID law, DOJ has just turned its back on minority voters and victims of discrimination in Texas.

7/13/17  //  Commentary

In a perfect world, federal election law would distinguish between foreign governments involving themselves in U.S. elections and foreign nationals doing so. Unfortunately, we don't live in that perfect world because of the Supreme Court.

7/6/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Ironically but thankfully, the result of Justice Alito's deeply mistaken analysis in Abbott v. Perez is an opinion that makes less bad law than it might have.

2/13/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss a dissenting opinion by a Trump-appointed judge arguing that states cannot be sued for violating the Voting Rights Act. They then say goodbye to Easha with a tribute to her thinking about Versus Trump law and litigation. Listen now!

11/6/20  //  Commentary

I catalog the legal attacks to come from the Trump team. None of his strategies have any chance of changing the outcome.

10/7/17  //  Commentary

What is the value to democracy from political gerrymandering for partisan advantage? The intuitive answer is the right one: None.

7/1/19  //  Commentary

This week on Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha discuss the temporary victory for the Plaintiffs in the census case and then speculate on what might come next. Listen now!

7/27/17  //  Commentary

The case against felon disenfranchisement is overwhelming as a matter of public policy. This matters for the constitutional analysis.

3/29/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Jason talks to Rick Hasen, a leading election law scholar and purveyor of the Election Law Blog, about what's going on at the voting booth, possible campaign finance law violations by both Trump and Clinton in the 2016 cycle, and Justice Scalia, who is the subject of Rick's new book, The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption. Listen now!

2/14/19  //  Commentary

Key takeaways from the briefs in the ongoing litigation to "bail-in" Texas under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act

1/25/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason asks Charlie to take us through the mammothly long, massively important opinion from the Southern District of New York invalidating the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Listen now!

1/4/18  //  Uncategorized

On the first episode of Versus Trump of 2018, Jason and Charlie look back at Versus Trump cases in 2017 and score them as Administration wins, losses, or not-yet-decided. They also look ahead at big issues to come in 2018. Listen now!

3/17/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Some are worrying about Republican-controlled legislatures eliminating the right to vote in a presidential election and just appointing Trump-supporting electors themselves. Don't worry: not only is the scenario unlikely, it couldn't legally happen.

6/14/18  //  Commentary

By Adav Noti: In Minnesota Voters Alliance v Mansky, the Supreme Court avoided the pitfall of expanding its conceptually unsound campaign finance jurisprudence into a new area

11/20/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Congress should reform voter registration while imposing reasonable voter identification requirements in federal elections

4/24/18  //  Commentary

Both the travel ban case and the Texas redistricting litigation raise questions about the staying power of discriminatory intent.

2/8/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Career attorneys at DOJ rightly refused to sign a deeply flawed brief arguing that Texas should be let off the hook for its repeated intentional efforts to minimize the voting power of its minority population

11/6/20  //  Commentary

We have every confidence in state election officials to finish counting all of our votes as best they know how—and we encourage all of our fellow citizens to wait until they have done so before jumping to conclusions.

10/7/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

What would happen if a presidential candidate were to die close to an election?

10/21/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Could a partial result from the very first contested presidential election provide us a path to handling a close election in 2020? Probably not—but the lessons from 1796 are revealing. This is Part 1 in a multi-part series that will help understand how close elections for presidential elector have been decided, good or bad, and how they should be decided this year.

10/6/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss whether Trump can really "steal" the election, as some have started to worry about. They discuss Jason's piece here on the topic. Plus, they say goodbye to Justice Ginsburg. Listen now!

4/22/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

SCOTUS would do well to remember that elections — and the agencies that administer them — require special safeguards

4/26/17  //  Commentary

Just 100 days into the Trump Administration—the Administration that gave rise to the concept of #AlternativeFacts—there is reason to worry that facts don’t matter to the Justice Department now led by Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.

11/2/20  //  Commentary

Will this be the last Versus Trump before Trump loses reelection? Who knows, but, on this week’s episode, Jason and Charlie discuss key theories that will shape which votes count. Listen now!

7/20/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we discuss the litigation against the newly-created Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, that has Kansas Secretary of State—and repeat defendant in voting rights litigation—Kris Kobach as its now-infamous Vice Chair. Listen now!

5/11/17  //  Quick Reactions

By Jed Shugerman. Trump is using the Comey firestorm as a smoke screen for a potentially more dangerous move: appointing Kris Kobach vice chair of a new “election integrity” commission, with Mike Pence as chair. Kobach will make it a voter-suppression/vote rigging commission, fomenting anti-immigrant and racist fears.

3/31/17  //  Commentary

Troubling signs abound for American constitutional democracy. It isn't (yet) too late to halt the decline. But that will require the creation and implementation of a robust democracy agenda.

6/7/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie take on two topics. First, what can the president legally do to use the military on American soil? Second, is it legal for the House of Representatives to vote by proxy, without being physically present in D.C., as alleged in a new lawsuit by House Republicans? Listen now!

7/2/19  //  Commentary

The majority's invocation of neutrality collapses when the partisan gerrymandering decision is set in a broader political and institutional context

10/2/20  //  Quick Reactions

What happens if a candidate dies before the electoral college votes? This came up at my oral argument in the Supreme Court case about electors, but there was no clear resolution.

12/3/18  //  Latest Developments

Here are the contributions from our recent symposium in collaboration with the Election Law Blog

4/11/17  //  Quick Reactions

Cutting-edge analysis by Gerry Hebert and Danielle Lang of yesterday's ruling that the controversial Texas Voter ID law was enacted with racially discriminatory intent.

6/30/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Kris Kobach just asked for help building a national voter file in two weeks. That’s massively irresponsible. And it might well be illegal.

4/17/20  //  Quick Reactions

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss last week's election in Wisconsin, include two rulings—one by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and one by the U.S. Supreme Court—that don't hold up very well in light of what occurred. Listen now!

9/29/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Pennsylvania's Senate leadership has filed an emergency application at the Supreme Court that misreads the Elections Clause and invites electoral chaos

11/27/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Congress might learn a lesson from the structure of the Voting Rights Act, even beyond its substance.

6/29/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we discuss a lurking issue with opposing Trump in upcoming elections: partisan gerrymandering. Charlie and Easha take a close look at the case of Gil v. Whitford, a case the Supreme Court recently announced it will take up next fall. In Gil, the Supreme Court may boldly announce a new rule that might seriously curb partisan gerrymandering—or the Court may entirely stop courts from being able to hear these cases at all. Listen now!

4/5/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Easha discuss lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration's decision to ask a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Listen now!

7/18/19  //  Commentary

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Easha are joined by guest host Melissa Murray of NYU Law and the new Strict Scrutiny podcast. They discuss the recent Supreme Court decision on gerrymandering (Rucho v. Common Cause), what's next in the fight, and where you can find Melissa's wonderful new podcast. Listen now!

10/15/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie are joined by Matthew Seligman of Public Citizen to discuss several lawsuits—including one in which he is counsel, NAACP v. USPS—where plaintiffs have challenged the cuts by the postal service that may slow down election mail. Listen now!

9/15/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Fifth Circuit’s decision in Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott makes several missteps. In this post, I’ll flag three of them.

10/15/18  //  Commentary

Although Shelby County had a dramatic and immediate real-world impact, its future doctrinal importance is likely minimal.

10/23/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Kennedy-Nixon election in 1960 in Hawaii went to a recount. How Hawaii dealt with it—with two sets of electors casting two sets of electoral votes—provides a model for how to handle very close elections.

6/5/19  //  Quick Reactions

Recent revelations in the census case at the Supreme Court are also relevant to another case at the Court--partisan gerrymandering.

10/22/20  //  Quick Reactions

The Supreme Court has run out of time to reverse terrible decisions regarding the scope of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. But it should still take up the issue after the election.

9/4/19  //  Commentary

In Slate, Rick Hasen claims that litigation over the independence of presidential electors could "backfire spectacularly." I respectfully disagree.

11/14/18  //  Latest Developments

We are pleased to announce a mini-symposium in collaboration with the Election Law Blog

7/5/18  //  Commentary

In voting rights, as elsewhere, there’s plenty of reason to stay woke. But if you’re looking for evidence of the crumbling of the Republic, the recent voter roll settlement in Kentucky isn’t the place to start.

9/26/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Now former DOJ officials are calling him on it.

7/10/17  //  Commentary

As disenfranchisement and voter suppression efforts are on the rise, one partial response is reenfranchisement.

11/19/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

It's time to consider some unfamiliar suggestions for election reform

4/7/17  //  Commentary

A letter about how to fix DOJ’s Civil Rights Division simultaneously maintains that we live in a “post-racial world” and urges the Division to take measures that will disenfranchise people of color.

4/6/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Many states are considering bills requiring future federal presidential candidates to release tax returns, or comparable information, in order to be listed on the ballot. Such requirements are good policy and should be upheld under the Constitution.

4/21/17  //  Commentary

A letter about how to fix DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has some interesting parallels to a recent voting rights dissent.

4/13/17  //  Commentary

The Trump administration has enacted several policies to conceal, subvert, or manipulate information. It has retracted a proposal to add LGBTQ identification to the U.S. census and eliminated LGBTQ identification from HHS surveys. These policies and others attempt to deny the existence of a problem by disappearing the (inconvenient) facts.

7/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Carlton Larson: There are two forms of treason recognized under the United States Constitution: (1) levying war against the United States; and (2) adhering to our enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Each raises slightly different issues with respect to cyberwarfare.

6/14/18  //  Quick Reactions

By Ilya Shapiro: SCOTUS has ruled that a Minnesota law banning 'political' apparel at polling places violates the First Amendment

11/15/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Congress should revise Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act to expand the circumstances in which courts can impose preclearance requirements

10/28/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

We conclude our examination of close presidential elections by taking a deep dive into Florida in 2000. Was the December 12, 2000 deadline really as firm as it seemed to the courts and some of the parties, or could the count have proceeded?

8/17/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we have an interview about voting laws and litigation with former Hillary for America General Counsel and current voting rights superlawyer Marc Elias. Listen now!

7/27/17  //  Uncategorized

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Easha discuss a newly-filed lawsuit brought by private plaintiffs who allege that Trump's campaign and Trump advisor Roger Stone conspired with Russians to disclose private information about the plaintiffs. Listen now!

4/11/17  //  Commentary

Even in these strange and trying times, we would like to think that our Attorney General will follow the law while staffing the division of DOJ charged with realizing the Constitution’s promise of a democracy that’s worth a damn—one open to all citizens, regardless of the color of their skin.

11/21/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Campaign Legal Center: Here are the highest priorities for legislative reform on campaign finance, voting rights, redistricting, and ethics

10/11/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie talk about the fight over Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's potential testimony in an important lawsuit over the census. Listen now!

11/14/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Now that Democrats have taken the House, it’s time to start thinking about stopping voter suppression through legislation—via laws instead of lawsuits

10/4/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

By David Gans: Will Justice Kennedy carve out a partisan redistricting exception from foundational First Amendment principles?

11/2/20  //  Commentary

I'm pretty nervous. But there’s also no reason to think that the rule of law has been entirely eroded in America in 2020. So far, the center has held.

3/1/19  //  Commentary

With the introduction of the new VRAA, the House is undertaking the long overdue task of responding to Shelby County.

8/24/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss voting by mail in the pandemic. Have courts allowed the rules to be changed, either in responses to suits there should be more voting by mail—or less? Listen now!

6/11/18  //  Quick Reactions

I wouldn't accuse any of the justices of voting in voting rights cases based on a conscious calculation of what's best for the Republican or Democratic Party. But an inference of at least subconscious bias certainly fits the facts.

1/25/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s Versus Trump, Charlie and Easha take a deep dive into two recently granted Supreme Court cases that go to the heart of the systems that we use to elect the President. The discussion takes us deep into questions of political accountability, free choice, and constitutional history. A classic Versus Trump cat's-away-mice-will-play episode chock full of fun analysis of, among other things, Jason's work. Listen now! (I mean right now.)

10/5/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss a recently-passed bill awaiting the signature of California Governor Jerry Brown that, if signed into law, would require presidential candidates to disclose five years of federal of tax returns in order to appear on the ballot in California. Jason and Charlie ask each other whether California has the constitutional power to do that, and, if so, whether it's a good idea. Listen now!

11/19/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Constitution explicitly gives Congress sweeping powers to protect the right to vote

7/25/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The three-judge district court overseeing the Texas redistricting litigation has held that Texas should not be 'bailed-in' under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act. That's a very worrisome development. Here's why.

7/7/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The commission is not truly bipartisan and is based on false assertions of widespread voter fraud.

8/28/17  //  Commentary

DOJ's troubling shift on voting rights rightly failed to save a discriminatory Texas law

7/5/17  //  Commentary

Larry Schwartztol of Protect Democracy on how Kris Kobach's request for voter information violated federal law.

11/16/18  //  Commentary

It's no easy task to design effective voting rights legislation that can withstand Supreme Court review

5/12/17  //  Commentary

The President's Commission On Voter Fraud Is Not Designed To Seek Data. Instead, The Commission Has Preordained Conclusions It Will Recommend.

10/12/20  //  Commentary

With its excessively narrow reading of the 26th Amendment, did the Seventh Circuit just issue the worst election law decision of the year?

3/27/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Partisan gerrymandering at its core is viewpoint discrimination pure and simple, and it cannot be squared with our Constitution’s promise that voters choose their representatives, not the other way around.

4/16/17  //  Daily Update

This week, a federal judge found a discriminatory purpose behind Texas's Voter ID law. On Take Care, Joshua Matz and Leah Litman argue that the Trump Administration's plans for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division raise grave concerns. Joshua Matz also notes the concern expressed by advocacy groups over Attorney General Jeff Sessions' lack of commitment to protecting voting rights.

11/5/17  //  Daily Update

Reports indicate that the Crosscheck system promoted by Kris Kobach, vice chair of President Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, as a tool to purge voter rolls, has a 99% false positive rate.

6/27/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's voter fraud commission continued to draw significant opposition and criticism, including some resistance from Republican state officials.

6/18/17  //  Daily Update

Kris Kobach, appointed by the President, seeks to pass more restrictive voting and immigration laws.

10/1/17  //  Daily Update

A study suggests that confusion over Wisconsin voter ID laws kept thousands of voters from the polls last November. California moved its presidential primary to Super Tuesday.

8/24/17  //  Daily Update

An advocacy group filed a lawsuit to make the records of President Trump's Election Integrity Commission public, while commentators continued to criticize the commission.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

This week, Daniel Tokaji argued for an active "democracy agenda" on Take Care while a movement for voter ID laws grows in the states, despite no evidence of a large voter conspiracy.

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

A close special election in Georgia may portend electoral problems for the Republicans. During the 2016 election, the Russian government sought to peddle the myth of voter fraud when it appeared President Trump may lose.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

The Supreme Court held oral argument in Gill v. Whitford, a major partisan gerrymandering case. Concerns persisted over the impartiality of the Pence-Kobach Voter Commission.

10/21/17  //  Daily Update

Former Attorney General Eric Holder argues the fight for voting rights is the struggle of our generation. Democratic senators requested the Government Accountability Organization investigate President Trump's voting fraud commission.

7/9/17  //  Daily Update

More than 40 states have fully or partially refused to comply with the Pence-Kobach Commission’s request for state voter data.

9/24/17  //  Daily Update

Questions about illegal voting and discussions of how to improve election integrity continue to plague the Trump administration. Professor Larry Lessig has a new proposal for election reform.

3/16/17  //  Daily Update

Since taking office, President Trump has cast doubt on the American electoral process--even as DOJ has stepped away from challenges to restrictive voter identification laws. Here are some useful analyses of the story thus far.

3/21/17  //  Daily Update

Developments in voting and elections for the week of March 20, 2017.

8/20/17  //  Daily Update

Despite studies showing that voter fraud is practically nonexistent, aides connected to the Trump Administration have created an organization to increase voter turnout in areas where the President has high support and discourage “fraudulent” democratic voting.

6/4/17  //  Daily Update

Commentators argued that President Trump’s sham Commission on Election Integrity is a threat to democracy, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that could have wide-ranging impact on voting rights, and a new Democratic super PAC is fighting back on partisan gerrymandering.

4/30/17  //  Daily Update

Leah Litman analyzes a conservative activists' letter to Attorney General Sessions in light of the illegal Texas redistricting plan.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump signed an executive order creating a presidential commission on “election integrity” based on his false claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2016 election.

8/6/17  //  Daily Update

States continue to resist the voter fraud commission's attempts to collect voting records. Commission vice-chair Kris Kobach is fighting the ACLU's document requests.

4/2/17  //  Daily Update

Calls for a "special election" pose major constitutional, political, and policy questions, as Ian Samuel explains for Take Care. Instead, the best way to avoid foreign interference may be to update voting technology.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

Efforts to expand automatic voter registration are picking up steam nationally, and the Supreme Court will hear a significant Ohio voting rights case.

6/25/17  //  Daily Update

Congress and the FEC are considering legislation and rules changes to combat foreign interference in elections.

6/23/17  //  Daily Update

The President's embattled Commission on Election Integrity, which has been sued by numerous voting rights groups, held its first public meeting this week. DOJ has changed tactics in its Texas voter ID case.

8/13/17  //  Daily Update

The President's voter fraud commission risks voter purges and may become a target for hackers. The Department of Justice reversed its historical position on the Ohio voter roll purge statute.