Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, says after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's four hour-long grilling by Senate lawmakers on Tuesday, "this is really not an end but a beginning" for the social media site's work on ensuring data privacy for its millions of users.Source: Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Facebook hearing: "Not an end but a beginning"...
Five years into his jail sentence for corruption, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is down to his last appeal, now at the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers argue that improper jury instructions resulted in an unfair trial. They raise a vitally important First Amendment point.Source: Supreme Court can reinforce free speech with Rod Blagojevich case...
When you stretch the law to “get” a political opponent, it’s rarely possible to return the law to its original shape. Which brings us to Stormy Daniels.Source: Stormy Weather for Campaign-Finance Laws...
Bills in each house of the California legislature to ban paying circulators on any basis except hourly are both advancing. AB 1947 passed the Assembly Elections Committee on March 21. SB 1394 passed the Senate Elections Committee on April 3.Source: California Bills, Outlawing Paying Circulators Except Hourly, Advance...
On April 6, the Arizona Libertarian Party filed this reply brief in its ballot access case, Libertarian Party of Arizona v Reagan, 17-16491. The issue is the large number of signatures needed for a member of the Libertarian Party to get on the party’s primary ballot. The U.S.Source: Arizona Libertarian Party Files Final Brief in Ninth Circuit in Ballot Access...
Via the NY Times comes news that Facebook will not only support passage of the Honest Ads Act (currently pending in committee where it may stay), but will also self-regulate “issue ads.Source: (How) Will Facebook Self-Regulate “Issue Ads” Intended to Affect U.S. Elections? The Details Matter a Lot...
John Cox is doing something remarkable for a Republican. A recent survey indicates he is now within striking distance of being elected governor of the infamously liberal state in November.Source: Newt Gingrich: California may elect a Republican governor -- Incredible as that sounds...
Wisconsin Democrats declared victory on Tuesday night after Milwaukee Judge Rebecca Dallet won a bitter race for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court.Source: Democrat wins a bitter, costly race for Wisconsin Supreme Court...
All Americans can agree with at least one simple truth: Politics is messy. The Supreme Court is finding out just how messy when wading into what Justice Felix Frankfurter called the “political thicket” of partisan gerrymandering.Source: Keep judges out of this political thicket...
On the March 25 episode of 60 Minutes, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission said Donald Trump was in “an enormous legal mess.Source: How to Build a Campaign Finance Case Against Donald Trump and Michael Cohen...
