Tom Edsall in the NYT does a masterful job synthesizing the state-of-the-art empirical knowledge on how changes in recent years to the way elections are financed have contributed to polarization and extremism. Relying on this data, the piece makes two… Continue reading

I’ve been saying in recent years, as in this 2017 post here, that our politics has become existential to many on both sides. Existential politics is very different from political polarization. There can be sharp differences between parties when they… Continue reading

I do not think the affirmative action cases, or Shelby County, directly cast doubt on the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana has now raised this question in its letter filing with the Fifth Circuit in… Continue reading

I’ve started reading the new paper Rick H. links to a few posts below. This paper is going to be pored over by those interested in voting laws and policies. Here’s another paragraph from the paper: [W]e believe that the… Continue reading

This looks to be an important new article in the APSR from a strong group of authors. Here’s the abstract: Debates over racial voting, and over policies to combat vote dilution, turn on the extent to which groups’ voting preferences… Continue reading

As anticipated after oral argument, the Court rejected the most extreme version of the ISLT. It held that state constitutions continue to bind state legislatures when they regulate national elections. The Court generated a majority decision, though, by deciding the… Continue reading

Enough time has passed since the Court asked the parties to file letters on the jurisdictional issues that it seems highly unlikely the Court — if it is going to dismiss the case — will do so with a one-line… Continue reading

It’s understandable that much of the reaction to the Milligan decision on the VRA is to be stunned that the Roberts Court would endorse the VRA claim and require Alabama to create a second ability-to-elect congressional district for black voters… Continue reading

There will be a temptation to see this decision as an affirmation of the status quo. But in a subtle way, I think the decision does more than that. New technology, as in this case, now enables plaintiffs to search… Continue reading

Nick posted about a piece in the Election Law Journal on the topic of potential religious-based gerrymandering claims. I wanted to flag an essay a student of mine wrote on the same subject in the NYU Law Review. That piece… Continue reading

I’ve posted this new essay, forthcoming in the U. Chicago Legal Forum, on SSRN. Here’s the abstract: Democratic systems inevitably seek to reflect and realize a range of values. But democratic and legal theory in recent decades have given… Continue reading

From the Guardian: As North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban is due to come into effect on 1 July, an analysis from the non-profit Center for Political Accountability (CPA) shows several major corporations donated large sums to a Republican political organization… Continue reading

“The data suggest that ideologically-driven donors from outside of the state have increased in relative importance in recent cycles. In 2012, candidates took 7%, on average, of all of their out-of-state money from ideologically-driven donors. That percentage nearly doubled over… Continue reading