Bill Would Bar Judges From Hearing Donors' Cases
By Evan Weinberger
Law 360
August 26, 2010

EXCERPT:

James Sample, a Hofstra Law School professor, said that the law was a preemptive strike aimed at keeping control of campaign spending in judicial campaigns that critics refer to as an “arms race.” More than $9.3 million was spent for an Illinois Supreme Court race in 2004, much of it by outside third-party groups, the costliest judicial election so far.

But the law will have a limited effect because the seven California Supreme Court justices — one chief justice and six associate justices — are appointed by the state's governor to 12-year terms and then are subject to retention elections.

“I think it's a step in the right direction,” Sample said. “California doesn't yet have a money and courts problem the way many other states around the country do, and part of that is because the state Supreme Court is not elected.”

Read the full article at law360.com.

Sample: Contributions, Expenditures, and Caperton Contributions
By James Sample
Election Law Blog
August 20, 2010

EXCERPT:

Rick Hasen is a friend and mentor for whom I have the utmost respect and admiration. And--in yet another testament to Rick exemplifying the highest, but oft-ignored ideals of the blogging genre--he invited this guest post precisely because he knows that I disagree with him, though only with respect to one small part of his analysis.

In June, 2009, Rick did something rather remarkable on this blog: he suggested that a Supreme Court Justice had made an inadvertent error in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. Inc., radically changing its meaning. In blogging on the date of the decision in Caperton, involving constitutional standards dictating when a judge must recuse himself based on campaign contributions, Rick noted that "given the key distinction in campaign finance law between contributions and expenditures," he "thought it was very curious that Justice Kennedy frames the issue at the beginning of the case as follows: 'The basis for the motion was that the justice had received campaign contributions in an extraordinary amount from, and through the efforts of, the board chairman and principal officer of the corporation found liable for the damages.'"

Read the full article at electionlawblog.org.

In S.E.C. Fraud Suit, Texas Brothers Stand Firm
By David Segal
New York Times
August 23, 2010

EXCERPT:

How strong is the case? “Pretty strong,” said Ronald J. Colombo, an associate professor of securities and corporate law at Hofstra University, “though not a no-brainer.”

Professor Colombo, based on his reading of the complaint, said the S.E.C. was likely to argue that assets in those trusts were under the control of the Wylys. He said that when a person can command a trust to buy specific paintings and jewels, at a specific price, on a specific date, as the Wylys regularly did, that person would seem to be controlling it.

Read the full article at nytimes.com.

The first director of CFPA
by Norman I. Silber
The Hill Congress Blog
August 18, 2010

EXCERPT:

Last month, Congress created an independent regulatory body within the Federal Reserve System, a body designed to address consumer financial products. The near-collapse of the banking system, and the economic and human devastation resulting from a dysfunctional lending market,precipitated this reform.

Echoes of the Wiley drama resound in this modern controversy. The question today is whether Professor Elizabeth Warren of the Harvard Law School and Chair of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel should be appointed (by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate) as the first Director of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

Read the full article at thehill.com.

According to a new report authored by Professor James Sample, spending on state Supreme Court elections has more than doubled in the past decade, from $83.3 million in 1990-1999 to $206.9 million in 2000-2009, and deep-pocketed special interests play a dominant role in choosing state jurists.

The report, "The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2000-2009: Decade of Change," features a Foreword by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

In an interview with the Associated Press, included here in the Los Angeles Times, Sample said: “These corporations and trial lawyers have millions of millions of dollars at stake, and they feel if they can just spend a few million dollars to influence the outcome, it’s worth it. We're sort of playing with fire when you're putting this much money into our courts.”

The Associated Press article was picked up by hundreds of news outlets around the country. To listen to a radio interview with Professor Sample on this topic, please click here.

To read the full report, click here.