Rick Hasen

Rick Hasen

Role at the time: Professor of law and political science at UCLA and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project, posting on his own Bluesky account

Statement summary

Responding to press inquiries the day after Trump's announcement, UCLA election law professor Rick Hasen said the Supreme Court has held that generalised campaign promises are protected by the First Amendment, so the pledge does not amount to illegal vote buying, and linked to the authority he relied on. He added a parenthetical questioning why anyone would believe the promise would be kept. The word "slouch" in his post appears to be a typing error for "such."

“For all the reporters asking me if this is illegal vote buying, the Supreme Court has said slouch generalized campaign promises are First Amendment protected”

Rick Hasen

Role at the time: Election law scholar; professor at UCLA School of Law and director of its Safeguarding Democracy Project

Statement summary

Election law scholar Rick Hasen wrote that, as to the Proposition 50 election, the warrants cite only claims that have been "completely discredited", and that if ballots were about to be destroyed the proper remedy was an order to retain them, not seizing them and placing them "outside the chain of custody".

“As to the Prop. 50 election, the warrants cite only claims, that have been completely discredited, of a so-called “election integrity” group that claimed fraud based upon misunderstanding the Riverside County election office’s reporting of ballot counts. … If that was the case, then the proper remedy would be an order to retain the ballots, not to have them seized rendering them outside the chain of custody and unreliable for any further investigation.”