Updated version of the paper out in May in the Annual Review of Political Science. Abstract: The period of increased polarization in the United States among the political branches and citizenry affects the selection, work, perception, and relative power of state … Continue reading
Category Archives: political parties
Guy-Uriel Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer have a new piece forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review, on partisan gerrymandering and justiciability: This paper examines the Court’s decision in Gil v. Whitford. It advances two claims. First, it provides a comprehensive account … Continue reading
NY Times: Democratic Party officials, after a yearslong battle between warring ideological wings, have agreed to sharply reduce the influence of the top political insiders known as superdelegates in the presidential nomination process. Under the new plan, which was agreed … Continue reading
You can find the opinion here. … Continue reading
NYT: [I]n the California Senate [top-two] primary last month, Ms. Feinstein crushed Mr. de León in her bid for a sixth term, drawing 2.9 million votes compared to 804,000 votes for him. But on Saturday night, the executive committee of … Continue reading
The Economist: America’s various disproportional representations are the result of winner-takes-all voting and a two-party system where party allegiance and geography have become surprisingly highly correlated. Places where people live close together vote Democratic, places where they live farther apart … Continue reading
Dan Howle and Rob Richie oped in the SD Union-Tribune: We, the Independent Voter Project and FairVote, have and continue to have our different perspectives and opinions about what is the “best” way to conduct our elections. But at a … Continue reading
Richard Winger oped in San Diego Union-Tribune. … Continue reading
Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich, who regularly teaches election law (and has used our casebook), wrote this interesting statement today concurring in the denial of rehearing en banc in the Utah Republican Party case: I concur in the court’s … Continue reading
Politico: The controversial issue of “superdelegates” and their future in the Democratic Party led to an angry confrontation on Tuesday night between Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and House Democrats, according to several lawmakers. But the members’ angst may … Continue reading
John Myers for LAT: Gamesmanship was everywhere. Could a feared opponent be shut out of a spot on the fall ballot? Might a political party’s leaders convince some hopefuls in crowded races to step aside and thus avoid splitting the … Continue reading
Reid Wilson reports for The Hill. … Continue reading
Dan Balz: Eight years ago, California voters approved a ballot initiative establishing a new open primary system. The new system called for primary contests in which all candidates from all parties would be listed on the same ballot. The top … Continue reading
NYT: With so many Democrats running, the party’s fear is that the vote will be splintered, allowing Republicans — who have fewer candidates — to dominate some primaries. The party and allied groups are spending more than $4 million on … Continue reading
NYT: It was supposed to be a cutting-edge election reform, a way to take the party out of politics: an open primary in which labels like Republican and Democratic were tossed out and candidates were chosen, presumably, on their merits. … Continue reading
David Wasserman for the Cook Political Report: Republicans badly need a few lucky breaks to hold their House majority in November. So far in 2018, it’s been the opposite story — from an unfriendly new Pennsylvania map to Speaker Paul … Continue reading
Alex Burns in the NYT: But in some areas, Democratic leaders have concluded it is worth enduring backlash to help a prized recruit or tame a chaotic primary field. They are moving most aggressively in California, where the state’s nonpartisan primaries present a … Continue reading
John Myers for the LAT: The California primary that’s now less than three months away promises to be the system’s most important test, and possibly its most controversial. Although Democrats have largely consolidated their power behind just a few formidable … Continue reading
The Salt Lake Tribune reports. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Richard Winger: The opinion says that the March 27 petition deadline is too early, especially given winter weather in South Dakota. It also says the 2.5% (of the last gubernatorial vote) is also too high, given the historical record of … Continue reading
LAT: There are so many Democrats running for Congress in some districts that they could split the votes in the June 5 primary and send two Republicans to the November election, thanks to California’s top-two primary system. Democrats need 24 … Continue reading
NYT: In Pennsylvania, a Republican lawmaker unhappy with a State Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandering wants to impeach the Democratic justices who authored it. In Iowa, a running dispute over allowing firearms in courthouses has prompted bills by Republican sponsors … Continue reading
Following up on this post, the NC Legislature has now sought emergency relief in the 4th Circuit. … Continue reading
Ned Foley blogs. … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
Des Moines Register: Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential caucuses would break with decades of tradition in 2020 by allowing voters to cast absentee ballots and then releasing the raw total of votes won by each candidate. A Democratic National Committee panel known … Continue reading
NYT: “I don’t think the Lord Jesus could win as a Democrat in Alabama,” said Brad Chism, who runs a Democratic communications firm in Mississippi that has conducted surveys of female voters in Alabama in recent weeks. “They’re just waiting … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Dan Weiner on Donna Brazile and the DNC. … Continue reading
As part of the critique I’ve been developing in recent years (e.g., here) over the excessively populist direction of a number of post-1960s political “reforms,” I have turned my attention to raising questions about changes we’ve made to the presidential … Continue reading
What is the connection between Republican Party extremism before Trump and the rise of Trump? What kinds of economic and political reforms can best preserve American democracy? What will life after Trump, and Trumpism, look like in the United States? … Continue reading
Release: On Thursday, Politico reported the formation of a new mega joint fundraising committee called the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund. This joint fundraising committee will solicit contributions to benefit the Democratic National Committee, as well as state parties in all 50 states and the District … Continue reading
CNN covers the expanding GOP civil war. … Continue reading
Ron Klain: That means, first, abolishing caucuses and using only primaries to pick convention delegates. (One exception can be made for the iconic Iowa caucuses.) The selection of a president should not be limited to those voters able to attend … Continue reading
Eric McGhee and Bors Shor in Perspectives on Politics: Party polarization is perhaps the most significant political trend of the past several decades of American politics. Many observers have pinned hopes on institutional reforms to reinvigorate the political center. The Top … Continue reading
Great Shane Goldmacher in the NYT: For decades, New York seats have traded hands this way in what amounts to one of the last, most powerful vestiges of Tammany Hall-style politics in the state. Election laws here grant politicians and … Continue reading
Salt Lake Tribune: Gov. Gary Herbert wished aloud Thursday that the Utah Republican Party would drop its lawsuit challenging the state’s new election law, which is driving a wedge between the party’s right wing and moderates. But he concedes that … Continue reading
Lee Drutman for Vox. … Continue reading
Anne Blythe’s News and Observer piece begins: Doug McCullough was five months away from his deadline for mandatory retirement from the state Court of Appeals bench when the chairman of the state Republican Party gave him a call. Democrat Roy Cooper would … Continue reading
Tabatha Abu El-Haj has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article argues that the Supreme Court’s party jurisprudence is predicated on a set of theoretical assumptions that do not hold true in the real world of … Continue reading
This is expected, and it will mean a big shift in the courts to the right. … Continue reading
Jeet Heer in TNR: Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, wondered in a 2013 article whether this called for drastic measures: “The partisanship of our political branches and the mismatch with our structure of government raise the fundamental question: Is the … Continue reading
Release: (my emphasis) The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) today is releasing a new study entitled Party Contribution Limits and Polarization. The study refutes one of the policy solutions put forward in recent years for a problem that almost everyone acknowledges to … Continue reading
Eric (“Efficiency Gap”) McGhee and Boris Shor have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Party polarization is perhaps the most significant political trend of the past several decades of American politics. Many observers have pinned hopes on … Continue reading
The Court’s decision this morning in the North Carolina redistricting case addressed allegations of predominant and unjustified racial intent. The state attempted to defend its actions, in part, by saying that it was just acting for partisan reasons. The legal … Continue reading
Today’s order list contains this summary disposition: 16-865 REPUBLICAN PARTY OF LA, ET AL. V. FEC The judgment is affirmed. Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch would note probable jurisdiction and set the case for oral argument. This is a surprise to … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
No noted dissents. Back in August 2016, when the 9th Circuit decided the case, I questioned whether the case was properly decided and if it changed the standard for considering how a party can object to the form of the … Continue reading
Brennan Center: Although the 2016 presidential primaries garnered profound dissatisfaction with the nomination process, leading to widespread accusations of unfairness within both parties, most voters will forget our current system’s issues until the 2020 election. But in a new paper, … Continue reading