Richard L. Hasen is a professor of law and the Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law.¹ He supports increased restrictions on campaign finance, more oversight of local electoral processes, and opposes voter identification laws. In April 2020, Hasen wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times arguing that the Republican Party is using responses to the pandemic coronavirus as a pretext to suppress voting among Democratic-leaning voting blocs.²

Hasen has also criticized Republican-led questioning of the results of the 2020 election. He said that “The insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, brought on by false claims about the 2020 presidential election, was the opening salvo of a concerted effort to subvert our electoral system. Since then, there have been numerous, alarming attempts to undermine our free and fair elections, including sham audits and calls for ‘decertification’ of election results.”³

Education

In 1986, Hasen attained a B.A. in Middle East studies from the University of California, Berkeley. By 1992, Hasen earned a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1991, he also attained a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.⁴

Career

While finishing his Ph.D., Hasen worked as a clerk for the late Judge David R. Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 9^th District, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. Once his doctorate was completed, Hasen joined the law firm Horvitz & Levy. ⁵ He soon left his full-time position at the firm but has remained an advisor and works on a few cases per year. ⁶

In 1994, Hasen began his career in academia as a law professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 1998, he moved to Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.⁸

Writing

Election Law Review

In 2002, Hasen co-founded the Election Law Review with Daniel Lowenstein from the UCLA School of Law. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles on elections and voting rights. ⁹

Election Law Blog

In 2003, Hasen created the Election Law Blog, a personal blog focused on the “politics of law, campaign finance, legislation, voting rights, initiatives, redistricting, remedies, and the Supreme Court.” ¹⁰ The blog has gained popularity as a source of coverage and analysis of ongoing legal issues in the U.S. ¹¹ The blog has been favorably referenced by Georgetown Law School¹² and the American Bar Association Journal,¹³ and has been archived by the Library of Congress. ¹⁴

Other Publications

Hasen has published articles and op-eds in the Atlantic,¹⁵ Slate,¹⁶ the New York Times,¹⁷ the Los Angeles Times,¹⁸ and the Washington Post. ¹⁹

Books

In 2012, Hasen wrote his first book, The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown, on the legal battles over the controversial electoral results of Florida in the 2000 presidential election. ²⁰

In 2016, Hasen wrote Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections, on the impact of campaign finance on the political system. Hasen argued that wealthy donors on both sides of the political spectrum support the current status quo created by the Citizens United decision which permits unlimited contributions to Super PACs. He argues that the Supreme Court should place limits on political contributions to restrict the influence of wealthy donors, even at the cost of free speech. ²¹

In 2018, Hasen wrote The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption, which presented a mixed view on the career and legal influence of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. ²²

In February 2020, Hasen wrote Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy, which analyzes the causes of increasing voter mistrust of the government and electoral process. Two key trends are Republican efforts to enforce voter identification laws, and the record of incompetence of election officials in Democratic-controlled cities. ²³

1. UCLA School of Law. “Richard L. Hasen.” https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/richard-l-hasen. Accessed July 8, 2022.
2. Hasen, Richard L., “Op-Ed: How Republicans are using the pandemic to suppress the vote.” LA Times. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-04/coronavirus-voting-republicans-safety-polls.
3. UCLA School of Law. “UCLA Law Launches Safeguarding Democracy Project Led by Richard L. Hasen.” https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ucla-law-launches-safeguarding-democracy-project-led-by-richard-l-hasen-301582132.html. Accessed July 8, 2022.
4. UCLA School of Law. “Richard L. Hasen.” https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/richard-l-hasen. Accessed July 8, 2022.
5. “Richard L. Hasen.” UCI Law. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/.
6. “Consulting with Horvitz and Levy.” Election Law Blog. Accessed April 20, 2020. http://electionlawblog.org/archives/005356.html.
8. “Consulting with Horvitz and Levy.” Election Law Blog. Accessed April 20, 2020. http://electionlawblog.org/archives/005356.html. In 2011, Hasen became the Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science and Co-Director of the Fair Elections and Free Speech Center at the University of Califorinia, Irvine. After two stints as a visiting professor at UCLA, Hasen joined the faculty to teach courses about election law and become the Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project.⁷UCLA School of Law. “Richard L. Hasen.” https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/richard-l-hasen. Accessed July 8, 2022.
9. “Election Law Journal: Rules Politics, and Policy.” Mary Ann Lilbert, Inc. Publishers. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.liebertpub.com/toc/elj/1/1.
10. “Monthly Archives: September 2003.” Election Law Blog. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://electionlawblog.org/?m=200309.
11. “Top 15 US Election Law Blogs and Websites to Follow in 2020.” Feedspot. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://blog.feedspot.com/us_election_law_blogs/.
12. “Election Law Research Guide.” Georgetown Law. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=316597&p=2114870.
13. “Election Law Blog.” ABA Journal. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.abajournal.com/blawg/election-law.
14. “Election Law Blog.” Library of Congress. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0001385/.
15. “Richard L. Hasen.” The Atlantic. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/author/richard-l-hasen/.
16. “Richard L. Hasen.” Slate. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://slate.com/author/richard-l-hasen.
17. Hasen, Richard L., “Don’t Let Our Democracy Collapse.” New York Times. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/opinion/sunday/dont-let-our-democracy-collapse.html.
18. Hasen, Richard L., “Op-Ed: How Republicans are using the pandemic to suppress the vote.” LA Times. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-04/coronavirus-voting-republicans-safety-polls.
19. Hasen, Richard L., “Trump is wrong about the dangers of absentee ballots.” Washington Post. Accessed April 20, 2020.
20. “The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown.” Amazon. Accessed April 20, 2020.  https://www.amazon.com/Voting-Wars-Florida-Election-Meltdown/dp/0300198248
21. “Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections.” Amazon. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453.
22. “The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption.” Amazon. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Contradictions-Antonin-Politics-Disruption/dp/0300228643.
23. “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy.” Amazon. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.amazon.com/Election-Meltdown-Distrust-American-Democracy/dp/0300248199.