In my testimony on the independent state legislature theory (ISLT) to the House Administration Committee, I identified seven different potential versions of such a doctrine, should the Court endorse it at all.  That highlights the fact that the question is… Continue reading

I have been invited to testify today to this committee at a hearing on the independent state legislature theory. My written testimony, available here, first explains that there are several different versions of what an “independent state legislature doctrine” might… Continue reading

This extremely detailed report, just released, was put together by eight prominent conservatives, including three former federal judges. It carefully examines “every claim of fraud and miscount putforward by former President Trump and his advocates, and now put the results… Continue reading

Foundation Press Release with description of changes in this edition below: This edition represents a significant revision that reflects the embattled state of democracy in the U.S. and abroad. With the addition of Franita Tolson as well as Nathaniel Persily… Continue reading

From the Wash. Post: An Alaska Survey Research poll found that ranked-choice voting could help incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the race against Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka. Alaska will conduct a nonpartisan primary on Aug. 16 with the… Continue reading

From Jason Zingerle’s NYT Magazine essay on The Vanishing Moderate Democrat: Murphy told me that the negative advertising against her and other moderates, including New York’s Kathleen Rice, who is retiring, and Maine’s Jared Golden, who is a Frontliner, “takes… Continue reading

Appropos of the post from Bruce Cain and Emily Zhang about abortion politics at the state level and the more majoritarian options that exist at that level for policymaking, see this excellent recent article by Miriam Seifter that analyzes exactly… Continue reading

I was glad to see this piece by Lee, which Rick H. flagged earlier.  At the start of this redistricting cycle, I argued that creating more competitive districts was one means, among several, to increase the election prospects of more… Continue reading

There’s an important distinction between non-partisan elections and primary-election reforms, such as Alaska’s adoption of the Top-4 primary (followed by RCV in the general election). Because this distinction is sometimes lost in discussions of reforms like that in Alaska, I… Continue reading

I know this is far afield from this blog’s focus, but this is such an interesting constitutional issue, with significant practical implications, that I wanted to flag it here for those interested in constitutional law. The en banc Fourth Circuit… Continue reading

From a story by Theodore Schleifer at Puck (behind a paywall): It was after 11 p.m. on Monday evening, and Sam Bankman-Fried was concocting some potato-pepper-onion fake meat stir-fry in his Bahamas kitchen while regaling me with the origin story… Continue reading

From Philip Bump at the Washington Post: The first came shortly after Pence was evacuated from the Senate chamber following rioters having gained access to the building. The vice president was hustled into a ceremonial office across a short… Continue reading

From the Financial Times (behind paywall): Mexico’s populist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has turned his guns on foreign investors, the media and the business elite to rally his base and drive an anti-establishment message. But his latest target seems… Continue reading

This NYT story describes AOC’s intervention in Democratic primaries to attempt to take down Democratic incumbents, including from within the NY Democratic delegation of which she is a part. The story’s emphasis is on these unusual internecine conflicts in the… Continue reading