Thursday, August 31, 2023
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lawyers for Arizona election deniers are sanctioned by the court
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/election-deniers-sanctioned-in-all-three-arizona-election-contests-from-2022/?utm_source=Democracy+Docket+Newsletters&utm_campaign=6af3c45f7d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_18_06_01_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-9336cb8284-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=6af3c45f7d&mc_eid=309d78f259
Kari Lake, Mark Finchem, and Abe Hamadeh lost their bids to become Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General of Arizona. They then alleged election fraud and tried to get the results overturned with no success. Now their lawyers have been sanctioned by the Arizona Supreme Court.
GMOM and FTP-MD actively opposed these candidates and mobilize volunteers to help elect their opponents because of their record of fabricating election fraud stories.
Charlie Cooper
Monday, August 28, 2023
Survey of states' susceptibility to election denialism
This appears to be a comprehensive review of a spectrum of voting and elections laws, policies, and procedures to protect against threats of election denialist such as voter suppression, threats to election officials and workers, misinformation, hacking. Maryland scores fairly low in risk but has partisan primaries, partisan gerrymandering, discrimination in favor of the two majority parties, and allows guns in polling places. Maryland lacks risk-limiting audits and policies to limit length of lines and lags on procedures for voters with disabilities. Maryland lacks a statewide voting rights law that can counter local racial/ethnic discriminatory policies in districting, poll location, etc.
Charlie Cooper
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Saturday, August 19, 2023
Washington Post: "What's wrong with American democracy?"
This first of a series of long essays focuses on analysis of confirmation votes in the Senate that were dominated by small-state senators (i.e. mostly Republicans), thus showing that anti-democratic of the Constitution are becoming more prominent and leading to dissatisfaction. Inequality is mentioned but downplayed. A chart shows that government handling of social issues is more contentious than handling of health and climate change -- surely a result of distorted media focus.
Charlie Cooper
Thursday, August 17, 2023
New polling finds strong support for legislation to impose ethics on SCOTUS
The polling was conducted by Hart Research for a group of left-liberal organizations that oppose the right-wing majority on the Court. It shows that trust in the Court has plummeted in the past 3 years.
Charlie Cooper
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
How section 3 of the 14th Amendment might be used to bar Trump from appearing on Presidential ballots
An election law professor at the Ohio State University argues that President Trump is ineligible to be President under section 3 of the 14th Amendment and that state election officials should not place his name (i.e. his electors) on their respective ballots. He goes on to describe how to execute this idea:
"If a state statute has not already authorized administrative officers to seek disqualification of presidential candidates, then — as the Supreme Court signaled this year — it might be a usurpation of the state legislature's prerogative to determine the "manner" of conducting presidential elections for these officials to assert this power on their own.
"Consequently, the safest course is for a state legislature to clarify, by enacting a new statute as soon as possible, that its election officials have the power to remove insurrectionists from the presidential ballot. A new statute could create an expedited timetable to ensure that the case reaches the Supreme Court in time for a decision before the Republican convention in July."
Charlie Cooper
Monday, August 14, 2023
Petition demanding Justice Thomas recuse himself from Moore v. U.S.
This case Moore v. U.S. before the Supreme Court will determine whether it is constitutional to tax increases in financial wealth before gains are realized for individuals with over $100 million in assets. (It is, evidently, constitutional to tax YOU on increases in the value of your house and other real estate before gains are realized.) Clarence Thomas personal relationships with at least four billionaires who would be impacted by such a tax should cause him to recuse himself.
Charlie Cooper
Sunday, August 13, 2023
Friday, August 11, 2023
Clarence Thomas got many more luxury vacations from more billionaires
Thomas failed to disclose "At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter....
"This accounting of Thomas' travel ... is almost certainly an undercount.
"....Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.
"Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica."
Charlie Cooper
Poll shows much more support for Freedom to Vote Act than for Republican's ACE Act
A self-described "progressive" research group conducted polling. They found majority support for the Freedom to Vote Act and also that, "More Americans oppose the Republican-proposed American Confidence in Elections Act than support it...."
Charlie Cooper
Monday, August 7, 2023
Justice Thomas again under scrutiny
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/us/clarence-thomas-rv-anthony-welters.html
Justice Thomas bought a 267, 000 recreational vehicle about 20 years ago. He barred money from his wealthy friend Anthony Welters to finance the purchase. Neither Mr. Welters or Justice Thomas will discuss the terms of the loan or confirm that it was paid back. Thus, there's a question of whether Justice Thomas received a gift or income that should have been disclosed to the public.
Charlie Cooper
Deepfakes threaten democracy
The President of Public Citizen (an ally with GMOM in Declaration for American Democracy) highlights the threat to democracy from artificial intelligence, which can produce fake video and audio that is hard to detect. Our current problem with discerning truth originates in a media landscape that can multiply lies very quickly and can insulate subsets of the population from the truth. However, the era of deep fakes threatens to make it very difficult for anyone to determine the truth. The author says that Congress, state legislatures, and agencies must regulate artificial intelligence.
Charlie Cooper
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
NJ Star-Ledger editors sound off on Samuel Alita
Alito is from New Jersey, and the Star-Ledger editors take particular care and interest in dissecting his lame denials about accepting gifts from billionaire Paul Singer and then sitting on a case involving one of his corporations.
Charlie Cooper
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Polling on specific provisions of Dem, GOP voting bill
This polling was commissioned by a Dem-leaning group and may be biased. It shows Dem ideas with a big lead and Freedom to Vote Act is much more popular than ACE Act.
Charlie Cooper
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