The Los Angeles Times examined the growing use of “red boxing,” a campaign tactic that signals messaging to outside political groups without direct coordination, in California’s gubernatorial race. UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said the practice has become “absolutely standard procedure,” allowing campaigns to technically comply with finance laws while still influencing super PAC strategy. He noted that current rules create “an illusion of regulation,” even as candidates increasingly rely on outside spending. Read more about UCLA in today’s NPR “Morning Edition,” MS Now and others.
More highlights from UCLA in the News: May 1, 2026
SCOTUS redistricting ruling creates a dangerous choice for Democrats | MS Now
(Commentary by UCLA’s Richard Hasen) After the Supreme Court’s six Republican-appointed justices effectively dismantled a key part of the Voting Rights Act on Wednesday, attention has turned to how Republican legislatures may dismantle districts that help minority voters elect their candidate of choice and replace those districts with Republican gerrymanders.
Will landmark Voting Rights ruling erase Latino gains in Washington? | Tri-City Herald
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that critics say gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act will not automatically reinstate Washington’s old legislative district map, said Sonni Waknin, senior staff attorney for the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which led the state court challenge. “Even under this heightened standard, the map that the Washington Redistricting Commission adopted is not legal. If necessary, we will defend the court-imposed remedial map and will win,” she said in a statement to the Tri-City Herald.
Iran war puts strain on country’s already battered economy | NPR’s “Morning Edition”
But the regime has also maintained an internet blackout in Iran throughout the conflict that’s hurting thousands of small businesses, says Benjamin Radd, a senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. “There are Iranians who are selling products, you know, promoting themselves, cafe owners, business owners who use Instagram very much as a way to communicate and to advertise and to promote what they do.”
Transgender Idahoans sue over bathroom law | Idaho Capital Sun
A 2025 study by the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute found “no evidence of increased harms to people who are not transgender when transgender people are allowed to use restrooms and other gendered facilities according to their identity.” But when trans people are refused access to facilities that align with their gender, the study found that trans people report verbal harassment and physical assault.
