Constitutional Law

Weekend News Roundup: February 4, 2008

In Brief

• Voter ID fraud isn't a big problem, but printing enough ballots may be
• Congress examined the state secrets privilege and is considering amendments to FISA while the White House allowed the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board to go dark
• President Bush has filled nearly all vacant spots in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy while current and former DOJ officials face protests by law students

Election Law

• Professor Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog criticized this op-ed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker on voter ID laws. He noted the article's failure to acknowledge the lack of credible evidence showing that impersonation voter fraud is a serious problem meriting the use of government-issued voter identification, and criticized statistics cited in the article as not having been peer reviewed and being subject to serious methodological questions. Video from an ACS briefing on the Indiana voter ID law is available here.
• "Print enough ballots," wrote Professor Heather Gerken on Balkanization regarding the primary elections to be held on Tuesday.

National Security & Civil Liberties

• President Bush has made no nominations to the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board despite the expiration of board members' terms on January 30, Wired reported.
• The Senate will continue examining amendments to FISA today.
• Judge Patricia Wald testified before Congress last week on the state secrets privilege. Christy Hardin Smith of Firedoglake has two articles that pull together online resources on the privilege and pending legislation to codify it.

Department of Justice

• President Bush nominated Elisebeth Cook to be the next Assistant Attorney General, according to the Blog of the Legal Times. ACS explored the proper role of the Justice Department at several programs.
• Yale law students protested the presence of Judge Bybee, known for approving the "torture memo" while working at the Department of Justice, and members of the Boston College Law School community are expressing their opposition to Attorney General Mukasey's selection as commencement speaker.

More news

• "First Monday," a joint project between the Alliance for Justice and Firedoglake, returns today at 3 p.m. for a discussion on "the assault on civil rights laws in the last few years." On Tuesday, February 12, ACS will host a briefing on retaliation claims brought under the civil rights laws.

• Some states are examining ways to limit judicial oversight over attorneys, Law.com reported.
• A judge has allowed Oregon's domestic partnership law to take effect, the AP reported.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).