Current Trump Campaign Slogan “Make America Great Again” Matches Texas Party Name from 2011

Posted on by July 30, 2015
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In late 2011, Texas voters who wanted to create a new party filed the “Make America Great Again” name in time for the state’s deadline. Texas law says a party that wants to petition in an election year must register the name of the party by the end of the odd year before the election. In late 2011, people who wanted Donald Trump to run as an independent candidate in 2012 took the precaution of registering that name. When informed that Texas law only permits three words in a party name, they amended it to “Make America Great”.

Now that Trump is actively seeking the Republican nomination, his campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again.” See his campaign web page here. Also he had that slogan on his hat when he visited Laredo, Texas, earlier this month.

PAC Supporting Mike Huckabee Independently Sues FEC to Gain Ability to Use Huckabee’s Name for its Facebook Page

Posted on by July 30, 2015
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Pursuing America’s Greatness is a PAC that wants to make independent expenditures in support of Mike Huckabee’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. FEC rules do not permit independent expenditure committees to use the name of any candidate they they support in their social media account titles (nor can they use the candidate’s name in the name of the PAC). Thus, Pursuing America’s Greatness is not permitted to set up a Facebook page called “I like Mike Huckabee.”

On July 27, Pursuing America’s Greatness sued the FEC to overturn that rule. The PAC does not want to use its Facebook page to raise money; it merely wants to convey messages of support for Huckabee. The lawsuit is Pursuing America’s Greatness v FEC, U.S. Dist. Ct., D.C., 1:15cv-1217.

The lawsuit points out that the FEC does permit a PAC that opposes a particular candidate to use that candidate’s name in its social media account titles, and even in the name of the PAC itself. In 1994 the FEC permitted a group to call itself the “Citizens Against David Duke”.

New York Magazine on Upcoming Fox Debate for Republican Presidential Candidates

Posted on by July 30, 2015
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New York Magazine has this interesting story about the development of rules for the upcoming Fox News Republican presidential debate. Especially interesting is the part of the article that says the position of candidates on the stage is expected to be related to their standing in polls. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.

Law Professor Says U.S. Supreme Court May Mandate that Redistricting be Based on Population, Not Number of Voters

Posted on by July 30, 2015
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Law Professor Rick Pildes has this article at Scotusblog about the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court hearing in Evenwel v Abbott, 14-940. The Court will hear this case late in 2015 or early in 2016. Texas, like almost all states, bases redistricting on population, not the number of voters. States are free to decide which standard to use.

The Texas individuals who brought the case believe that the U.S. Constitution requires that redistricting create districts of equal numbers of voters, not equal numbers of residents. Pildes thinks it is somewhat likely that the lawsuit will boomerang on the people who brought the lawsuit, and that the outcome might be that the Supreme Court says districting must be based on residents, not number of voters. Of course the Court is also free to maintain the status quo, in which any state can choose either method. Thanks to Election Law Blog for the link.