Over at the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, I have a piece today that puts into a larger context the remarkable inability of the Republican Party to get the AHCA through the House.  Here is the opening: The failure of… Continue reading

In holding that the NC legislature’s post-election changes to the design of the State Board of Elections violates the NC Constitution, see here, the state courts held that the Governor must be able to have effective control over this… Continue reading

As someone who litigates these cases and has written extensively about racial redistricting, I consider today’s decision a major new precedent with broad implications, not just for racial gerrymandering issues, but for partisan gerrymandering ones potentially as well.  Because I… Continue reading

Judge Laurence H. Silberman has been a respected conservative judge for more than 30 years on the D.C. Circuit and has extensive executive branch experience as well.  Alarmed by the erosion of long-standing institutional practices and norms concerning the appropriate… Continue reading

From Chronicle of Higher Education: “Changes to voting rules that used to be considered by courts before they could be implemented,” Ms. Duchin says, “are now implemented first and the courts consider them after the fact.” Because of the increase… Continue reading

That is the finding of an important new paper co-authored by one of the leading social science experts on districting, Professor Jowei Chen.  In recent years, a debate has been taking place over whether it is particularly aggressive Republican gerrymandering… Continue reading

The League of Women Voters has offered some interesting suggestions for the remedial approach the federal court should take in this case.  The brief suggests the legislature should be given the first shot, but with the use of institutional structures… Continue reading

“FBI agrees with CIA that Russia aimed to help Trump win” Thank you.

Online front-page Washington Post Headline: FBI backs CIA view that Russia helped Trump win election. When clicking through to the full article, the headline becomes: FBI backs CIA view that Russia intervened to help Trump win election. Still not… Continue reading

This piece, from a few days ago in the Washington Post, puts FBI Director Jim Comey’s real-time updates of the Clinton investigation into a broader framework involving the ever-increasing demands for greater governmental transparency.  Leaving aside the provocative title… Continue reading

Whether the various new voter-ID laws have a significant effect on voter turnout has been notoriously difficult to assess empirically. The recent election results from Texas, however, might provide a way to get some insight into this question not previously… Continue reading