The Tap: Monday, March 28, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #10 of The Tap, which was published on April 4, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in two cases: CRST Van Expedited, Inc. v. EEOC and Betterman v. Montana. The first case addressed the question of whether a defendant in a Title VII case is barred from seeking attorneys’ fees if the defendant does not prevail on the merits, which is an EEOC rule. The second case addressed whether the Speedy Trial Clause of the Sixth Amendment applies to the sentencing phase of a criminal prosecution.
• The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Bravo-Fernandez et al. v. United States. The court will hear arguments next term on “whether … a vacated, unconstitutional conviction can cancel out the preclusive effect of an acquittal under the … Double Jeopardy Clause (of the Sixth Amendment).” The case comes on appeal to the court from the United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit.
• The ACLU, Equality North Carolina, and three named plaintiffs filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief with the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina challenging the constitutionality of H.B. 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a North Carolina law that requires individuals to use bathroom and changing facilities on the basis of an individual’s biological sex as stated on the individual’s birth certificate. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, state Attorney General Roy Cooper, the University of North Carolina, its Board of Governors, and Board Chair Louis Bissette were named as defendants in the complaint. Cooper, a Democrat, called H.B. 2 “a national embarrassment” and said that he would not defend the law in court.
• Ted Cruz wrote an op-ed in The New York Daily News to address New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s criticism of his proposal to surveil Muslim communities in the U.S. Discussing a now-disbanded New York City counterterrorism unit that used demographics to target certain communities, Cruz wrote, “Simply put, demographic trends are not static. They are dynamic. They change over time. The pockets of New York City that are fertile grounds for terrorist recruitment today may not be fertile grounds next year, and places without a significant radical presence right now may become hotbeds of terrorist activity in the future. To say that the work of a vital intelligence unit ‘was finished’ is not plausible. It is the excuse of an administration grasping for anything to justify what was obviously a surrender to political correctness.”
• CNN reported on Monday that John Kasich’s campaign attempted to coordinate with Ted Cruz’s campaign, using 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as an intermediary, to prevent Trump from attaining the minimum number of delegates necessary to win the Republican presidential nomination. Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe has reportedly not reached out to Kasich’s campaign as requested. Roe told CNN that “the Cruz campaign has no desire to work with Kasich because they do not believe there is any advantage in it to the Texas senator. Cruz officials insist the Ohio governor is a spoiler -- plain and simple -- because they say he does not take votes from Trump, only Cruz.”
• In the U.S. Geological Survey's 2016 seismic forecast for the central and eastern United States, the agency found that the chance of a having an earthquake in north-central Oklahoma and southern Kansas is nearly as high as that of earthquake-prone areas of California. The USGS stated that "scientific studies have linked the majority of this increased [seismic] activity to wastewater injection in deep disposal wells." Furthermore, these seismic events have increased by an order of magnitude. The report asked government agencies to take their findings into account when "formulating risk mitigation strategies." Of the states experiencing seismic activity, Oklahoma has seen the largest increase in the number of earthquakes it experiences, especially in the number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.5 or greater. As of October 2014, the rate of 3.0-magnitude earthquakes was 300 times higher than in previous decades. In response, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) created a traffic light system under which all injection well permits were reviewed for "proximity to faults, seismicity in the area, and other factors." The traffic light permits limit the volume of liquid and pressure that can exist in an injection well. These permits also set "red light conditions" that, if arrived at, require operators to immediately shut down a well.

State

• The ACLU, Equality North Carolina, and three named plaintiffs filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief with the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina challenging the constitutionality of H.B. 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a North Carolina law that requires individuals to use bathroom and changing facilities on the basis of an individual’s biological sex as stated on the individual’s birth certificate. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, state Attorney General Roy Cooper, the University of North Carolina, its Board of Governors, and Board Chair Louis Bissette were named as defendants in the complaint. Cooper, a Democrat, called H.B. 2 “a national embarrassment” and said that he would not defend the law in court.

• Following the end of the legislative session on March 25, 2016, the Idaho State Legislature submitted an amendment to the secretary of state to be put before voters on November 8, 2016. Idaho HJR 5 would give the legislature the authority to review, approve and reject administrative rules—regulations that are usually written and implemented by various executive agencies or commissions and are designed to assist in the enforcement of legislation. The measure would also provide that legislative approval or rejection of a rule not be subject to a veto by the governor. A measure that would have allowed the legislature to delegate rulemaking authority to executive agencies and to reject those rules was narrowly defeated in 2014. Currently, legislative authority to approve and reject rules is protected by state law and was upheld by a 3-2 vote in the Idaho Supreme Court in 1989. However, this legislative power is not included in the state’s constitution, and is vulnerable to challenges. Since 1990, the legislature has rejected 4.5 percent of rules created by state agencies.

Local

• In Texas, San Antonio Mayor Ivy R. Taylor (D) received an ethics complaint from an executive committee member of the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club. The complaint “alleges that Taylor committed an ethics violation when she accepted a $1,000 campaign contribution from Sam Dawson, co-owner of Pape-Dawson Engineers, four days after the mayor voted for the $3.4 billion Vista Ridge Pipeline. Dawson's company is a member of the Vista Ridge Consortium.” The complaint was preceded by a column in the San Antonio Express-News, which claimed, “That contribution would appear to violate the spirit — if not the letter — of San Antonio’s Municipal Campaign Finance Code.” In response, one of the mayor’s representatives denied that the Vista Ridge Pipeline agreement fell under the terms of the city’s campaign finance code. Mayor Taylor referred to the pipeline in her State of the City address given on March 22, 2016, stating, “Enhancing our competitiveness—while remaining fiscally responsible—is a key reason I support the Vista Ridge water supply project. Vista Ridge is in fact less risky now than it has ever been: interest rates are low and successful test wells have been drilled. [...] As always, the biggest risk remains failure to secure our water future, and we will continue to work diligently to conserve and expand supplies.” Mayor Taylor narrowly won a runoff election on June 13, 2015, to win a full four-year term following her appointment to the office by the city council in 2014. Her term expires in 2019. San Antonio is the second-largest city in Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #9 of The Tap, which was published on March 28, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• The White House will host the 138th Annual Easter Egg Roll on the lawn. The egg roll tradition began at the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. The event was moved to the White House grounds in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

State

• On Monday, March 28, State Sen. Virgil Smith (D) is expected to appear in a Wayne County courtroom to discuss the fate of his plea deal. Smith is accused of shooting at his ex-wife's Mercedes Benz after she caught him with another woman in May 2015. On February 11, 2016, Smith accepted a plea deal that required him to resign from the legislature, plead guilty to felony malicious destruction of property over $20,000, and serve 10 months in jail. On March 14, 2016, Smith was sentenced to 10 months in prison and five years of probation, but Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon did not require him to give up his seat. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy submitted a court brief last week that argues that since Sen. Smith has not resigned his seat, he is in violation of his plea deal. Worthy wants the plea deal revoked and for Smith to stand trial.