Filibuster Reform Coming?
NY Times: Democrats Poised to Limit Filibusters, Angering GOP
Ezra Klein: Mitch McConnell’s problem: How can he threaten to obstruct the Senate even more?
Jonathan Bernstein: Why Senate Reform is Needed
Category Archives: political parties
“Democrats Plan Challenge to G.O.P.’s Filibuster Use”
NYT:
In a move that could bring to a head six months of smoldering tensions over a Republican blockade of certain presidential nominees, Senate Democrats are preparing to force confirmation votes on a series of President Obama’s most contentious… Continue reading
“Should Republicans Just Focus on White Voters?”
Interesting Tom Edsall column.
Breaking: Ninth Circuit Rejects Constitutional Challenges to California’s Top Two Primary System
You can read the unanimous opinion at this link. UPDATE: Richard Winger responds.
“Voting Rights Act Puts GOP in Pickle”
Roll Call:
House Republicans face a political dilemma as they consider how — and whether — to rewrite the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court neutered some of its most powerful provisions last week.
Failing to act would undermine… Continue reading
“Democrats say primary law is unconstitutional”
AP: “In a federal lawsuit, the Democratic Party of Hawaii claims the state’s primary election law is unconstitutional. Hawaii’s primary system that allows every registered voter to participate in the party’s nomination process is tantamount to forced political association,… Continue reading
“U.S. District Court Strikes Down Tennessee Law Giving Two Major Parties Best Spot on Ballot; and Also Strikes Down Petition Requirement Again”
Ballot Access News:
On June 18, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Haynes ruled that Tennessee’s law, giving the two largest parties the best spots on the general election ballot, is unconstitutional. He also again struck down the law that… Continue reading
“‘Hastert Rule’ Pushed by Insurgent Republicans”
Will Boehner Again Ignore “Hastert Rule” on Immigration Vote?
The Plum Line says that a majority of Republicans in the House may want the Speaker of the House to pass immigration reform without support from a majority of Republicans:
But either way — however we get there — it… Continue reading
“Old-School Politics Reign in California’s New Primary”
Roll Call: “California’s new top-two primary system was supposed to revolutionize the state’s political process. Instead, it’s forcing candidates to revert to an antiquated practice: competing for the state party’s endorsement.”
See also Top Two Elections and their Effects … Continue reading
“State Super-Minorities Lead to ‘Lone Ranger’ Movie Trip”
Bloomberg: “In a few states, those that are deeply Republican-red or Democratic-blue, the partisan hue is so one-sided that it’s creating super-minorities in some Senate chambers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.”
“House Republicans broken into fighting factions”
WaPo:
Schweikert considers himself a guarded optimist, but interviews with nearly three dozen GOP lawmakers and senior aides revealed plenty of doubt. The majority is “adrift,” according to a longtime conservative. The top five leaders hail from blue states… Continue reading
“IVP Initiative to Prohibit Taxpayer Funding of Partisan Elections”
Release:
The Independent Voter Project, authors of California’s new nonpartisan “Top-Two Open Primary” (Proposition 14), will be filing a new initiative with the California Secretary of State that will cut right to the core of partisan institutionalization.
The new… Continue reading