Today and next Friday, the RNLA will highlight the top blog
posts of the Republican Lawyer Blog for 2017.
This is part 1: Top RepLawyer Posts
for 2017, numbers 10-6. Today’s post will
focus on Justice Neil Gorsuch and election law.
No reasonable lawyers’ group can look back on 2017 and not celebrate the
confirmation of Justice Gorsuch. On
elections, it is unfortunate that Democrats continue to use the race card and fight
against those trying to make elections more open, fair, and honest for all.
10. April 10: "Congratulations
to Justice Gorsuch" Excerpt:
RNLA Co-Chair John Ryder agreed: “Judge Gorsuch is a worthy
successor to Justice Scalia. I am delighted that President Trump has delivered
on his promise to the American people to nominate someone who fits the mold of
Justice Scalia. I am equally pleased that the Senate saw fit to honor the will
of the people by confirming Judge Gorsuch."
9. January 13: "EAC Commissioner Questions Extension of DHS'
Power to Elections" Excerpt:
Election Assistance Commissioner Christy McCormick stated: “This action politicizes elections. There is a reason that
the Founding Fathers gave the authority of conducting elections to the States.
There is a reason that when Congress set up the U.S. Election Assistance
Commission (EAC), they made it a bipartisan, independent agency and gave it no
regulatory authority.”
8. March 27: "ICYMI,
Study Showing Voter ID Suppressed Minority Turnout Was ‘Fake News’" Excerpt:
“Many federal courts have been asked to do the same: Find a
causal link between voter ID and intentional decreases in minority turnout,”
[Logan Churchwell, spokesman for the Public Interest Legal Foundation] said.
“All eventually failed. Despite this, too many in the media are willing to
report an initial study as gospel before peer reviewers can weigh in. It should
have struck many news editors weeks ago that it took until 2017 to provide
proof to a belief that could have been confirmed a decade ago, if true.”
7. January 5: "Sessions' ‘Racist’ Vote Fraud Prosecution Was to Protect Black Voters' Voting
Rights" Excerpt:
“As Craig Donsanto says, this was a prosecution intended to
preserve and protect the right to vote, something to which he dedicated his
entire professional career. Anyone who claims this was a racist prosecution by
Jeff Sessions is, according to Donsanto, “a liar and a political opportunist of
the worst kind.”
6. April 18: "Justice Gorsuch Asks at First Oral Argument, Why Not Follow ‘Plain Text of the Statute'?" Excerpt:
Gorsuch focused his first line of questioning on
the wording of the statute, asking the employee’s attorney, Christopher Landau,
several questions about where in the law it says district courts have
jurisdiction to hear civil service claims. “Wouldn't it be a lot easier if we just followed
the plain text of the statute?” asked Gorsuch.
Look for part 2 next Friday. Happy Holidays!
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity met for its inaugural meeting today in Washington, D.C. The commissioners gave opening statements, shared what they think priorities for the commission to study should be, and emphasized that they hope the commission's work can increase voter confidence in the election system.
The RNLA live tweeted many of the key moments of the meeting, which was streamed live online. We wanted to summarize and bring you the highlights:
Vice President Pence, also serving as Commission Chair, during opening remarks:
President Trump greeted the Commission. He rhetorically questions why some states willfully refuse to share public voting information:
Vice President Pence, no less than three times, emphasized and reemphasized the following point:
Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach, and Kansas Secretary of State, attempted to dispell the rumors of the left:
Commissioner Bill Gardner, Democrat Secretary of State from New Hampshire, was consistently on point. He pointed out this excellent fact--voter ID does not equate to lower turnout--two of the highest turnout states have voter ID laws in place:
Commissioner McCormick, who also sits on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, did not parse words about her experience with voter rolls:
Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky, from the Heritage Foundation, wants to be clear not all errors in voter rolls are malicious, but, nonetheless, they need to be promptly corrected:
You can watch the entire meeting here. The next meeting is not expected until sometime in late-September or October. In the meantime, we will keep you up-to-date with any news and developments.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was designating election systems as "critical infrastructure," thereby bringing elections under the purview of DHS. EAC Commissioner Christy McCormick raised serious questions and concerns about this extension of federal power over elections:
1. The scope and effect of this action is unknown. There was not a thorough discussion or
review of what the designation means. . . . The so-called benefits of a critical infrastructure designation provided by DHS appear no
different than those that have already been provided. . . . I am still unconvinced that a declaration of
critical infrastructure status is necessary for DHS to help the States with security efforts,
because we’ve already seen them do so.
2. This action politicizes elections. There is a reason that the Founding Fathers gave the
authority of conducting elections to the States. There is a reason that when Congress set up the
U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), they made it a bipartisan, independent agency and
gave it no regulatory authority. Our nations elections should not be handled or governed by a
partisan branch of the Federal Government. The party that occupies the White House singularly
controls the DHS and other Federal agencies in the Executive Branch.
Pick which party you want driving the security of our elections--are you comfortable with the
other party doing so? It's important that we maintain the decentralized nature of our elections
so that our voters and citizens can maintain faith and confidence that our elections are run
freely and fairly, and that they can depend on the integrity and accuracy of the outcomes.
3. The designation creates a layer of non-transparency and unnecessary Federally controlled
bureaucracy. . . .
[4.] The technical explanation for this designation is insufficient. . . .
[5.] The critical infrastructure designation opens the States to legal, financial and privacy
liabilities. . . .
[6.] The process leading up to this designation has been disingenuous, at best. . . .
Commissioner McCormick concluded by requesting that President-elect Trump reverse the action and provide for productive, non-instrusive federal-state cooperation on election security:
Elections officials asked for more time, conversation, and discussion and a thorough
understanding of the scope and benefits of the critical infrastructure designation. That request
was flat out denied by the unilateral action of Secretary Johnson. I ask that President-elect
Trump and his designated DHS Secretary General Kelly immediately reverse this unjustified and
unsupported critical infrastructure designation, as well as Executive Order 13694, review the
actions of DHS, provide a non-intrusive way for our intelligence community to provide
information and resources to our election administrators, and leave the conduct of elections to
the States as mandated in our Constitution. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner McCormick, for standing up for election administrators across the country and fighting this federal intrusion into election administration.
