Year: 2021
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Newsom recall meets signature requirement; signees can remove names until June 8
The California Secretary of State announced that 1,626,042 signatures were valid in the recall campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Voters have until June 8 to request the removal of their signature from the petition. The request must be sent in writing to a county election official. If enough valid signatures remain following the June…
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SCOTUS grants review in three new cases for its 2021-2022 term
The U.S. Supreme Court accepted three additional cases for review during its 2021-2022 term on April 26. With the addition of these three cases, the court has agreed to hear 14 cases during the term, which is scheduled to begin on Oct. 4. • Houston Community College System v. Wilson concerns free speech protections and…
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Federal Register weekly update: 627 new documents added
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s overall regulatory activity, accounting for both regulatory and deregulatory actions. From April 19 through April 23, the Federal Register grew by 1,668 pages for a…
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Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court: People may raise Appointments Clause challenges in federal court they did not mention during agency proceedings
On April 22, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Carr v. Saul, ruling that people who were denied Social Security disability benefits by the Social Security Administration (SSA) do not lose the chance to challenge the appointment of SSA administrative law judges (ALJs) in court even if they do not first…
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Montana voters will decide on a constitutional amendment to require a search warrant to access electronic data in 2022
On April 22, the Montana State Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the 2022 ballot that would require a search warrant to access electronic data or electronic communications. The amendment would also state that electronic data and electronic communications would be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures. To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before…
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Arkansas State Legislature refers two constitutional amendments to 2022 ballot
The Arkansas State Legislature gave final approval to two constitutional amendments on April 22, 2021, sending them to the November 2022 ballot. One of the amendments would require 60% supermajority voter approval to ratify constitutional amendments (legislatively referred and citizen-initiated) and citizen-initiated state statutes. Constitutional amendments require approval by voters in a statewide election to…
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New apportionment data released – six states gain congressional seats, seven states lose seats
The United States Census Bureau released its post-2020 census apportionment counts on April 26, 2021. Apportionment is the process whereby the 435 districts in the U.S. House of Representatives are allotted to the states on the basis of population. Six states gained seats. Texas gained two, while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon gained…
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Alabama State Legislature refers third 2022 constitutional amendment to prevent voting policy changes six months before general elections
The Alabama State Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the 2022 ballot that would require that any legislation changing the conduct of a general election must be implemented at least six months before the next affected general election. The amendment was introduced as House Bill 388 by State Representative Jim Carns (R). On April 6,…