The Tap: Tuesday, November 1, 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 #41 of The Tap, which was published on November 5, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Almost 400 economists from universities including Yale, M.I.T., and Princeton signed a letter criticizing Donald Trump’s economic policies. The letter stated that Trump “promotes magical thinking and conspiracy theories over sober assessments of feasible economic policy options.” It concluded by saying, “Donald Trump is a dangerous, destructive choice for the country. He misinforms the electorate, degrades trust in public institutions with conspiracy theories, and promotes willful delusion over engagement with reality. If elected, he poses a unique danger to the functioning of democratic and economic institutions, and to the prosperity of the country. For these reasons, we strongly recommend that you do not vote for Donald Trump.”
  • See also: Trump’s economic policies

• The Clinton campaign spent at least $100,000 on ad buys in each of four states that are believed to lean blue this election cycle: Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, and Virginia. "Clinton's campaign said these ads are designed to help Clinton and down-ballot candidates finish strong, but it will likely be read as sign of nervousness. Clinton and the main super PAC supporting her campaign were confident about their position in Virginia and Colorado to stop running ads months ago, while Clinton has never run broadcast ads in the other states," NBC News reported.
  • See also: Presidential battleground states, 2016

• President Barack Obama commented on the review of additional communications in the Clinton email investigation for the first time in an interview. He defended Hillary Clinton, saying, "I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations, we don't operate on innuendo, and we don't operate on incomplete information, and we don't operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made. When this was investigated thoroughly last time, the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations, was she had made some mistakes but that there wasn't anything there that was prosecutable."
  • See also: Reactions to Comey's letter on Clinton email investigation

• In a speech in Pennsylvania, Trump said he would call for a special session of Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he is elected president. “When we win on November 8th and elect a Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare. Have to do it. I will ask Congress to convene a special session so we can repeal and replace. And it will be such an honor for me, for you, and for everybody in this country because Obamacare has to be replaced. And we will do it and we will do it very, very quickly. It is a catastrophe,” said Trump.

• The FBI has been investigating alleged connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, CNN reports, “[b]ut none so far have yielded proof of criminal connections between the parties.” According to CNN, the FBI has determined that while “Russian spy agencies” have not sought to help a particular candidate, they have attempted to “sow chaos and confusion in the US elections.” Hillary Clinton’s campaign has accused the Russian government of being involved with the hacking of campaign manager John Podesta’s emails, which the site WikiLeaks has published.
  • See also: 2016 candidates on Russia

• NBC News reports that the FBI has been conducting a “preliminary inquiry” into Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair. The inquiry reportedly focuses on Manafort’s business connections in Russia and Ukraine. Manafort told NBC News, “None of it is true ... There's no investigation going on by the FBI that I'm aware of. This is all political propaganda, meant to deflect.” Manafort, who began working as Trump’s convention manager, stepped down in August to avoid any potential distractions. He had previously advised Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and was the subject of a New York Times investigation alleging he accepted over $12 million in cash payments from Yanukovych’s political party. He has denied all allegations and that the FBI is conducting an inquiry.

• The Trump campaign announced $25 million in ads that will play in several key battleground states throughout the final week of the election. States include Colorado, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
  • See also: Presidential battleground states, 2016

• Gary Johnson released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees he would consider if elected president. Johnson said in a statement, “I have made clear that I believe the Supreme Court should be guided by a loyalty to the original and fundamental principles of limited government and liberty embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. As president, when the opportunity arises, I will nominate justices who have proven records of demonstrating that loyalty to the Constitution.” The list included the following:
  • Alex Kozinski, circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Randy Barnett, director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution
  • Janice Rogers Brown, D.C. Circuit Court judge and former California Supreme Court justice
  • Tom Campbell, former member of Congress and dean of the Chapman University School of Law
  • Miguel Estrada, partner at the Washington, D.C., law office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
  • Jonathan Turley, professor at George Washington University Law School
  • See also: 2016 candidates on Supreme Court vacancy

• The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in two cases:
  • In certain circumstances, if a plaintiff waits too long to file a claim, a defendant can use what is known as a laches defense. Generally, a laches defense is used to show that a plaintiff has waited an unreasonable amount of time to file a claim and that this delay is prejudicial toward the defendant. In 2014, the court ruled in Petrella v. MGM that laches cannot be used as a defense against copyright infringement claims if those claims were filed within the statutory period permitting such challenges. In SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, the court heard argument on whether the logic used in Petrella for copyright infringement cases can be applied in patent infringement cases.
  • A provision of the False Claims Act (FCA) permits a private party called a relator to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. government against an entity that has submitted fraudulent or false claims to the government. A procedural requirement mandates that allegations of FCA violations in such lawsuits must be kept under seal for 60 days unless the government intervenes and chooses to proceed on its own rather than through the relator; if the seal requirement is not met, the case must be dismissed. In State Farm v. U.S. ex. rel. Rigsby, the Supreme Court reviewed a standard used by the Fifth Circuit through which the appeals court did not dismiss an FCA claim in which the seal requirement was violated.

• Roger Stone, a Donald Trump advisor and ally, was duped into sharing a fake “Podesta email” on Twitter. Stone tweeted an excerpt from a parody email that had Podesta saying Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton smelled “of a combination of boiled cabbage, urine and farts.” Stone later acknowledged that he had been tricked, tweeting, "I’m told this is a parody. If it isn’t true it should be. Lighten Up Liberals."

State

• Georgia Attorney General Samuel Olens (R) stepped down in order to assume the position of president at Kennesaw State University. Olens had interviewed for the position in early October and was selected by the hiring committee on October 12, 2016. The same day, Governor Nathan Deal (R) announced that Director of Economic Development Chris Carr would replace Olens. Carr will serve out the remainder of Olens' term. The office will be up for election in 2018. Georgia is one of 23 Republican trifectas heading into the 2016 election.
• North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) indicated his intention to call lawmakers to a special session in December 2016 to address relief efforts for Hurricane Matthew. This special session would make decisions on supplemental aid after hearing recommendations made by a bipartisan committee of businesspeople, government officials, and elected leaders. The special session would also consider other actions, such as permitting the use of the state’s reserve fund to aid in relief efforts and permitting public schools to amend their schedules after classes were canceled because of the hurricane. This statement was part of a larger announcement where the governor laid out a timetable for the relief effort, in which he also announced the state officials’ plan to file for federal aid on November 14, 2016.

Local

• In Philadelphia, nearly 5,000 workers for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) walked off their jobs at 12:01 a.m., beginning a strike. Transportation Workers Union Local 234 was unable to reach an agreement on a new deal with SEPTA, which triggered the strike. Congressman Robert Brady (D) noted that if the strike extended to November 8, 2016, it could have a large impact on the race. The disruption to public transportation could affect voters’ ability to make it to the polls in this swing state. Philadelphia is the fifth-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in Pennsylvania.
• Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton (D) filed paperwork that would allow him to run for Arizona secretary of state in 2018. Media speculated that Stanton did so this week to sidestep a new law taking effect on November 4, 2016. The law will prevent municipal candidates from transferring their city campaign funds to state-level campaign funds. Stanton said he plans to transfer the $522,000 currently in his city account to his state campaign committee. The current Arizona secretary of state is Michele Reagan (R). Phoenix is the sixth-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in Arizona.
• The Washington, D.C. City Council passed a trio of new laws that dealt with tobacco, medical marijuana, and medically assisted death. The nation’s capital is the 23rd-largest city by population in the United States.
  • Final approval was given to a measure that raised the age of sale for tobacco to 21 and made baseball in the city tobacco-free. The nation’s capital became the sixth city in the country to ban smokeless tobacco from its professional sporting facilities. Once a California law takes effect in 2017, 11 of the 30 professional baseball teams will play in tobacco-free stadiums. “These actions will protect children from tobacco addiction, save lives and help make the next generation tobacco-free,” said Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew L. Myers.
  • Council members voted unanimously to allow medical marijuana users from outside the district to buy marijuana inside the district. Advocates say that the bill allows patients traveling to the district access to the same medicine they would be able to get at home. A September 2016 committee report on the new law said, “Non-residents are not permitted to purchase medical marijuana under current law. This results in a complete barrier to access for non-residents that doesn’t exist for other medication.”
  • D.C. became the sixth jurisdiction in the nation to approve “physician-assisted suicide” after an 11-2 vote. The new law allows medically assisted death for those with six months or less to live, who are not suffering from depression, and who have requested the option multiple times. Mary Cheh (D), the bill’s sponsor, said that “[t]o deny it to those who competently choose it is simply to prolong the process of death, to prolong suffering, to rob a person of autonomy, and in some cases to simply impose one’s own moral or religious choice on another person.”
• Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (D) announced that the city reached a plan with the Atlanta Hawks to keep the NBA franchise in the city for the next 30 years. Although the deal must still be approved by the city council and Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority, the mayor promised that the agreement contained “[n]o property taxes or new taxes of any kind.” In the event that the team does leave before 2046, the deal includes a clause that the Hawks would owe the city $200 million. The Hawks are the city’s final major sports team to get a new stadium deal: both the Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and Atlanta Braves (MLB) will move into new facilities next year. Atlanta is the 40th-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in Georgia.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #40 of The Tap, which was published on October 29, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• The U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in two cases:
  • In certain circumstances, if a plaintiff waits too long to file a claim, a defendant can use what is known as a laches defense. Generally, a laches defense is used to show that a plaintiff has waited an unreasonable amount of time to file a claim and that this delay is prejudicial toward the defendant. In 2014, the court ruled in Petrella v. MGM that laches cannot be used as a defense against copyright infringement claims if those claims were filed within the statutory period permitting such challenges. In SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, the court will determine if the logic used in Petrella for copyright infringement cases also applies in patent infringement cases.
  • A provision of the False Claims Act (FCA) permits a private party called a relator to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. government against an entity that has submitted fraudulent or false claims to the government. A procedural requirement mandates that allegations of FCA violations in such lawsuits must be kept under seal for 60 days unless the government intervenes and chooses to proceed on its own rather than through the relator; if the seal requirement is not met, the case must be dismissed. In State Farm v. U.S. ex. rel. Rigsby, the Supreme Court will review a standard used by the Fifth Circuit through which the appeals court did not dismiss an FCA claim in which the seal requirement was violated.

State

• Voter registration deadline in Connecticut (same-day registration is available).
• Voter registration deadline in Utah if registering online or in person.
• Early voting ends in Louisiana.
• Georgia Attorney General Samuel Olens (R) will step down in order to assume the position of president at Kennesaw State University. Olens had interviewed for the position in early October and was selected by the hiring committee on October 12, 2016. The same day, Governor Nathan Deal (R) announced that Director of Economic Development Chris Carr would replace Olens effective November 1, 2016. Carr will serve out the remainder of Olens' term. The office will be up for election in 2018. Georgia is one of 23 Republican trifectas.