Minority Rule: A Conversation with Ari Berman and Advocates

Submitted by ekrug on

Most Americans agree on a fundamental principle: In our democracy, free and fair elections rely on every voter having the ability to make their voice heard. But what that looks like in practice and who our democracy includes doesn't always align with that ideal.

Unfortunately, this isn’t new.

From the country’s inception, America has confronted existential questions about the nature of our democracy: Who gets to vote? How should we elect our leaders? Who counts as a person?

Protecting Nevadans Who Vote by Mail (RNC v. Burgess)

At a Glance

Partisan actors have filed a lawsuit challenging Nevada’s deadline for counting ballots cast by mail. CLC filed a friend-of-the-court brief alongside the ACLU of Nevada and Protect Democracy urging the federal court to dismiss the case so every mail ballot cast by Election Day in Nevada is counted. 

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Active
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Issues
Voting and Elections
About This Case/Action

The Republican National Committee, Nevada Republican Party, the Trump campaign and a Nevada voter filed a lawsuit against election officials challenging a Nevada law allowing mail ballots to be counted if they are postmarked on or before Election Day and are received within four days. If they are not clearly postmarked, they must be received within three days. This is known as Nevada’s “mailbox deadline.”  

The partisan actors who filed the lawsuit claim that the deadline violates a provision of the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA), a 2022 law that Campaign Legal Center helped pass to update the Electoral College process. CLC, with the ACLU of Nevada and Protect Democracy, filed a friend-of-the-court brief explaining that while the plaintiffs use the correct legal mechanism to enforce the ECRA, they are dead wrong on the law.  

Nevada, like all states, is permitted to facilitate vote-by-mail and ensure that voters who cast their ballot in a timely way will have their vote processed and counted. At least 20 states, red and blue, similarly count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive some days after.  

This issue is especially important in Nevada, where the state Legislature has adopted a universal vote-by-mail system that allows all voters to vote by mail. As a result, voting by mail has become very popular in Nevada, and a growing majority now cast their ballots by mail. To avoid undermining voters who place their ballot in the mail on or before Election Day, Nevada ensures that ballots postmarked by that day are counted.  

As CLC’s brief points out, Nevada’s mailbox deadline accounts for well-known issues with U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which include postmarking and delivery times, by permitting ballots without a legible postmark to be counted if they arrive within three days of Election Day.  

Even though USPS tries to postmark all ballots, the agency has acknowledged that logistical breakdowns can prevent some ballots from receiving a postmark. And even when postmarks are applied, they can become smudged or illegible by the time they reach an election office for processing. The three-day rule also accounts for USPS’s expected ballot delivery turnaround, which might get longer if USPS’s planned changes to mail service in Nevada go into effect in 2025. 

Every vote counts in our democracy, so it is vital that we count every vote — including votes cast by mail on or before election day but arrive a few days later.  

Bruce V. Spiva Joins CLC as Senior Vice President

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Washington, DC — Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is pleased to announce that Bruce V. Spiva, a distinguished election law and voting rights attorney and community leader, has joined CLC as a senior vice president. Bruce will work closely with CLC’s Senior Vice President Paul Smith to provide guidance to the voting rights, redistricting and strategic litigation teams through the 2024 election and beyond.

“We are proud and pleased to welcome Bruce to CLC during this critical juncture for our organization and nation,” said Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center. “Bruce’s expertise and abilities will play a vital role in helping CLC address the significant challenges facing our democracy, and we are glad to have him on board.”

“I am beyond thrilled to be joining such a dynamic and committed team of advocates seeking to protect every American’s right to participate equally in the democratic process,” said Bruce V. Spiva, senior vice president at Campaign Legal Center. “CLC has built a policy and litigation powerhouse at a time when it is needed most. I am eager and ready to put my shoulder behind the wheel.”

Bruce brings a wealth of litigation experience to CLC from his 30-year career fighting for civil rights, civil liberties and voting rights. He has led trial teams and argued many appeals in voting rights and redistricting cases across the country, including arguing against vote suppression in the United States Supreme Court in 2021.  

Through his service on the boards of several nonprofits and advocacy organizations, Bruce has partnered with Black and Brown communities and young people to protect and strengthen the freedom to vote. He has also steadfastly advocated for the right of D.C. residents to full and equal representation in Congress through statehood.

Bruce is also familiar with electoral politics, having mounted a competitive run in the primary election for Washington, D.C. attorney general in 2022. Bruce previously served as the managing partner of the D.C. office and on the national executive committee of Perkins Coie LLP, where he also had an active election law practice.

Bruce graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992, where he was the treasurer (now called vice president) of the Harvard Law Review and graduated with a B.A. in history from Yale University in 1988. After law school, Bruce clerked for the late Honorable Jerome Farris on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.  

Please contact [email protected] to get connected with Bruce.

CLC’s Kedric Payne on Effort to Pass Supreme Court Ethics Legislation in U.S. Senate

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Washington, DC — Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will attempt to pass legislation that would strengthen Supreme Court ethics through a unanimous consent (UC) request. In advance, Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel and senior director for ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement: 

“At a time when there is renewed public attention on ethical controversies facing the Supreme Court, we applaud Senator Durbin, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and everyone in Congress who is working toward addressing this important issue. While all other members of the federal judiciary are expected to abide by enforceable ethics standards, the nine justices serving on our nation’s highest court operate with no enforcement mechanism to hold them accountable — to the detriment of public trust. 

"The American public needs to be assured that Supreme Court justices are indeed working in the public interest, given that trust in this branch of our federal government is essential for a functioning democracy. If the justices are unable or unwilling to do this on their own, then Congress must act.”

Issues
Ethics
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