But doesn't Harry Reid need to robocall so he can spend more time watching boxing matches with Jack Abramoff while counting the money he made after paying taxes on property he sold?
[/wingnut]

I think it's at least a medium-sized deal, given that he wants to criminalize these "Why do they hate the American voters?" tactics.

Substantively, writing this bill so that it won't be struck down on 1A grounds is going to be a bear.

On a more casual note, I confess that I once went out of my way to drive through Searchlight just because it's Harry Reid's hometown. I hereby set down the right to call anyone "nerd" ever again.

Harry Reid announced he was going to do this on NPR the other day. Immediately after he proposed this, he went off and his Republican counterpart came on. When asked what he thought, he, notably, didn't even bother to condemn robocalls, but simply said it would be an infringement of free speech. I guess I should be grateful that they're not even pretending to be innocent?

The first amendment doesn't protect fraud. A law that makes robocalls readily traceable, nominally to police fraud, would remove the incentive to false flag.

And I'd be ready to call 'supports medical experiments on unborn babies' fighting words. (Do we still have fighting words -- I've lost track . . .)

So tonight I ran into my friend who works for the Council on Foreign Relations and asked her, "Tell me something about foreign relations that won't make me sad." She hasn't gotten back to me yet. Sticklers may note that I didn't strictly "ask" her anything.

Maybe Pelosi will back this and the House Dems will vote against it...

On election day the complaint seemed to be that the wheels of the law turned too slowly for robocalls like this to be stopped when it mattered. How does this help? I thought some of those calls were in violation already, for not identifying themselves, but any action about them will come long after the effect.

Criminal penalties. The problem is that with the law as it is now, we might be able to stop deceptive calls if we were fast enough, but we can't punish them in any genuinely frightening manner, which means that there's no reason not to do everything you can before you're stopped. To take a clearer example than the robocalls, remember the Virginia calls: "We've found out you're registered in another state -- if you show up at the polls you will be prosecuted." Threatening someone to keep them away from the polls is a crime in Virginia, but it's a @#*@#!!! misdemeanor. No one's particularly quaking in their boots over a misdemeanor prosecution.

I think they really should work on a complete upgrade and enhancement of the Voting Rights Act including a way to make sure the electronic voting machines have oversight, much stiffer penalties for the tricks these people used to disenfranchise people, and some sort of incentive program so that states will be motivated to enhance their local laws and make sure everyone who has the right to vote can find the voting experience easy and convenient.

6: "Void for vagueness" is Judge-ese for IOKIYAR in this instance, I fear.