Join the RNLA's California Chapter for a Continuing Legal Education seminar on September 7th, 2019!

RNLA has applied for 1 hour of general MCLE credit with the California State Bar (pending approval).

Topics to include:

State and Local Redistricting in California

Presented by:

Shawn Steel, an attorney seasoned in the Citizens Redistricting Commission and the impact on Congressional and State legislative districts.

Steel earned a B.A. from California State University, Northridge and an M.A. in history from the University of Southern California. He went on to earn a J.D. as well. He is a lawyer in California and his professional biography credits him with "creating a new field of law" in the time he has been practicing since 1978. Steel defends doctors who practice alternative medicine as well as their patients in personal injury cases.

He writes articles about personal injury and alternative medicine law and has taught a class at Cleveland Chiropractic College since 1991. Former Governor of California Pete Wilson (R) appointed Steel to the California Acupuncture Board. Steel served on the board for seven years.

Steel worked as the founding director of the California chapter of the Club for Growth, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that supports free-enterprise and limited government.

Additionally, he has served on the Republican National Committee's Resolutions Committee, and Committee on Arrangements (California) and serves as National Committeeman from California, in addition to other roles, including Past Chairman of the California Republican Party. 

Fred Whitaker, presenting on State and Local Redistricting in California.

Mr. Whitaker joined Cummins & White, LLP as an associate in 1990. His practice focused on environmental insurance coverage and real estate matters. In 1993, Mr. Whitaker left Cummins & White and joined SC Fuels of Orange, California as Vice President/General Counsel, and later became Chief Operating Officer of their Northwest Division.

In 2000, Mr. Whitaker returned to Cummins & White as the partner in charge of its transactional practice and continues in this role today. As outside general counsel, his practice focuses on the needs of private business for entity formation and governance, mergers & acquisitions, tax, finance, commercial real estate, and estate/succession planning. Mr. Whitaker serves as Cummins & White’s managing partner.

Whitaker serves at Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember for the City of Orange, as well as Chairman of the Orange County GOP.  

On Tuesday, the California Republican Party and its Chairperson, represented by former RNLA President and Board of Governors member Chuck Bell, filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandate in the California Supreme Court, challenging California's new law requiring presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns prior to appearing on California's presidential primary ballot.  As we wrote on Tuesday, this law is a blatantly political maneuver to keep President Trump off the ballot, and a federal lawsuit against it is also pending.

Today, RNLA Vice President for Communications and RNC Committeewoman from California Harmeet Dhillon’s firm and Michael Best & Friedrich filed a lawsuit against California Governor Gavin Newsom seeking to enjoin California Demorats' illegal attempt to keep qualified candidates off the Presidential ballot.  The lawsuit says in part:

As demonstrated by the legislative history and Governor Newsom’s public comments, the Act is a naked political attack against the sitting President of the United States.  The Act subverts the franchise for cheap political gain, creates an extra-constitutional qualification for the office of President, and effectively disenfranchises voters by denying their right to associate for the advancement of political beliefs and effectively cast a vote for the otherwise qualified candidate of their choosing.

Many residents in California are voting twice and it’s time for Secretary of State Alex Padilla to stop ignoring the problem. This flaw in their system has been an issue for years and the integrity of our elections is at stake.

Lawyers Democracy Fund's board member Joanne Young published an op-ed today cataloguing the many problems with California's automatic, or mandatory, voter registration system, which is especially relevant as the House debates and votes on H.R. 1 this week.  H.R. 1 would require all states to adopt automatic voter registration (AVR) according to the bill's requirements, regardless of each state's existing laws.  It would also require a massive data dump from various government databases in the states' voter registration systems, which would introduce errors in the voter registration databases that would only be exacerbated by the new required AVR systems.

California has agreed via settlement to investigate its DMV's latest mishandling of voter registration information:

On Dec. 14, DMV officials revealed that staff members had not transmitted voter registration files for 589 people whose applications or updated applications were filled out before the close of registration for the Nov. 6 statewide election. At the time, state officials could not confirm whether any of those voters had been turned away on election day, or if any had cast last-minute provisional ballots that were rejected in the final tally.

Monday’s settlement raises the possibility that a full investigation of the delayed voter registration documents could reveal races in which the outcome might have changed had those voters been allowed to participate. State officials now have 60 days to complete an investigation into the identity of those voters and why DMV staff members failed to transmit the files in a timely fashion.

President Trump has started 2019 by continuing his success of nominating excellent, well-qualified judges. This was the first major test of new White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and he has passed with flying colors.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board raised initial concerns that an unnecessary compromise might be in the works with the California Senators. They explained:

RNLA’s Vice President for Communications hit a home run for free speech on college campuses on behalf of her clients, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and the UC Berkeley College Republicans.

Boom! Deeply honored to have been selected as the lead plaintiffs’ counsel in this landmark 1st Am. lawsuit, which today resulted in a settlement allowing free or nominal access to campus facilities at UC Berkeley, and no security fees for the types of events our client hold. 🙌🏽 https://t.co/3n2kez7YBD

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) December 3, 2018

The RNLA is pleased to announce that Harmeet Dhillon has been named the 2018 Republican Lawyer of the Year:

The Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) has named Harmeet K. Dhillon of California the 2018 Republican Lawyer of the Year. Ms. Dhillon was selected as the 2018 Republican Lawyer of the Year in recognition of her outstanding professional accomplishments and years of service to the Republican Party and its ideals. She will be honored at a reception and luncheon at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 14.

Election Day 2018 is just a week away, and already there have been reports of serious election administration problems around the country.  Here are a few examples.