Election Law

Giuliani disbarred in N.Y. over false statements about 2020 election

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and personal attorney to Donald Trump, was disbarred Tuesday in New York over his false statements about the 2020 election.

Jul 2, 2024 2:34 PM CDT

Top elected justices are twice as likely to affirm death penalty in election years, 3-state study finds

Politics is apparently affecting the fate of people caught up in the criminal justice system, according to a study by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Jul 2, 2024 9:03 AM CDT

Former presidents have ‘absolute immunity’ for official acts, says SCOTUS in 6-3 decision

Former presidents are immune from prosecution for official actions taken while in the White House, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, but do not have immunity for unofficial acts. The 6-3 ruling along ideological lines likely means that Donald Trump’s federal trial could proceed in D.C., but only after additional delay.

Jul 1, 2024 9:35 AM CDT

Supreme Court says prosecutors improperly charged hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters

Federal prosecutors improperly charged hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants with obstruction, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, upending many cases against rioters who disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Jun 28, 2024 10:44 AM CDT

Georgia appeals court pauses Trump election case to consider disqualifying DA Fani Willis

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a halt to the proceedings in the election interference case against former president Donald Trump and eight other defendants pending the outcome of their appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis. The order means the case will almost certainly not be scheduled for trial before the fall election.

Jun 5, 2024 4:21 PM CDT

Trump could make these appellate arguments after trial he calls ‘rigged’

Former President Donald Trump said Friday he will appeal his hush-money election-interference conviction during a rambling speech in which he criticized the trial, the judge and the prosecution team.

Jun 3, 2024 11:03 AM CDT

Felons often can’t vote in Florida. But Trump likely can, thanks to a quirk of the law

Thousands of Florida residents lose their right to vote every year when they are convicted of a felony. But by a quirk of the law, Florida resident Donald Trump likely will be able to cast a ballot in November despite his convictions this week.

Jun 3, 2024 11:00 AM CDT

Federal government warns of an increase in ‘scam PACs’ as election nears

Individuals are doling out their money to people operating “scam PACs”—and there is not sufficient government oversight and enforcement powers to stop them. In November, there will be a hotly disputed presidential election in which individuals may feel compelled to donate on issues related to their concerns or to the candidate they support. A scammer could pretend the money is going to elect Joe Biden or Donald Trump and then pocket it.

Jun 1, 2024 1:10 AM CDT

Trump found guilty of 34 felony charges in hush-money case

A New York jury has found Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to an adult-film actress, delivering a historic verdict that could shape the November election and makes Trump the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime.

May 30, 2024 4:06 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: SCOTUS rulings on election districting likely to affect who’s going to Congress in 2025

Two recent rulings of the Supreme Court—one on its “shadow docket” and the other a decision on the merits—again revealed the deep division among the justices with regard to issues concerning voting and the electoral process. Each was decided by a 6-3 margin, with the familiar ideological split among the current justices, and each will have significant consequences for our political system in making it harder to bring challenges to the drawing of election districts.

May 30, 2024 9:54 AM CDT

Justice Alito tells Congress he will not recuse from Jan. 6-related cases

Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. announced Wednesday that he will not recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases at the Supreme Court after Democratic lawmakers questioned whether he could be impartial following reports that an upside-down flag flew at his home in the weeks after the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

May 29, 2024 2:30 PM CDT

Judge rejects request to restrict Trump’s speech on FBI, says motion was faulty

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Tuesday denied a request from federal prosecutors that she order Donald Trump to stop making incendiary claims about law enforcement personnel, saying the government should have more thoroughly consulted with Trump’s attorneys before coming to her.

May 29, 2024 9:59 AM CDT

The Trump hush-money trial’s greatest misses

Over 20 days at Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, the prosecutors, defense lawyers, and even the judge have had strong moments, but also times when they’ve faltered or been caught off guard, according to legal experts who have been tracking the case.

May 28, 2024 1:45 PM CDT

Wife of Justice Alito called upside-down flag ‘signal of distress’

The wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told a Washington Post reporter in January 2021 that an upside-down American flag recently flown on their flagpole was “an international signal of distress” and indicated that it had been raised in response to a neighborhood dispute.

May 28, 2024 11:30 AM CDT

Supreme Court allows disputed South Carolina voting map

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the use of a South Carolina congressional map that a lower court said “exiled” thousands of Black voters to carve out a district safer for a White Republican incumbent.

May 23, 2024 9:44 AM CDT