“Top Donors to Republicans Seek More Say in Senate Races”
Heavy Crossroads involvement promised for GOP primaries.
Category Archives: political polarization
More on the “Is America Governable?” Conference
Sandy Levinson put together a dynamite conference last week. You can now watch video of the panels. Jack Balkin also posted important and provocative comments, “Dysfunctional Constitution or Regime Change?,” based on his conference remarks.
Will Democrats Support a Tea Party Primary Opponent Against Mitch McConnell?
“Why Congress Can’t Seem to Get Anything Done”
Wonkblog talks to my former Professor George Tsebelis about veto players.
Why Did the Democrats Cave on Filibuster Reform?
“Senate leaders reach deal modifying filibuster rules, keep 60-vote hurdle”
WaPo reports.
The Fix: Why Filibuster Reform Didn’t Happen
Senator Reid tells Ezra Klein: “I’m not personally, at this stage, ready to get rid of the 60-vote threshold,” Reid (D-Nev.) told me this morning, referring to the number of… Continue reading
“Senate Democrats Lack Votes for ‘Talking Filibuster’ Plan”
Roll Call: “Democratic senators favoring the most robust overhaul of the chamber’s filibuster rules do not have the votes to enact a ‘talking filibuster,’ even with a simple majority, according to the top Democratic vote-counter.’
“K Street Sings the Blues”
Politico: “K Street is living through lean times. The majority of big D.C. lobby shops have seen their revenues flat-line or decline during the last year of President Barack Obama’s first term — buffeted by a lingering global financial… Continue reading
“Republicans and the Filibuster Endgame”
Smart Jonathan Bernstein Post-Partisan blog post: “But overall, it’s really easy for me to imagine a large group of Republican senators loudly opposing Senate reform while privately wishing that Democrats will go nuclear. Which means that Democrats who really want… Continue reading
“Reid to lay out plans for filibuster reform”
The Hill: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will present colleagues with options for reforming the Senate’s filibuster rules in a Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday. Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are close to reaching a deal… Continue reading
Ezra Klein on Filibuster Reform
Important piece in The New Yorker. Klein quotes Tom Mann on why a half-measured reform would be worse than no reform: “You won’t have fixed the Senate. But you will have further poisoned the environment.”
A timely article, as filibuster… Continue reading
“NRCC Targets Foreshadow Power of Partisanship in 2014 Elections”
FairVote: “A memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee obtained by the National Journal Wednesday identifies seven Democratic Members of Congress as the primary targets for an expanded Republican majority in 2014: Mike McIntyre, Jim Matheson, Nick Rahall, John… Continue reading
“Is the Supreme Court any less partisan than the two other branches of government?”
Zocalo asks. Here are the answers from a number of experts:
Tom S. Clark
It depends on how you define partisan
Mickey Edwards
It’s the partisanship of the U.S. Senate, not the judges it confirms, that we … Continue reading
“The Phenomenology of Gridlock”
Josh Chafetz has posted this draft on SSRN (Notre Dame Law Review). Here is the abstract:
Assertions that our legislative process is gridlocked — perhaps even “hopelessly” so — are endemic. So many more of our problems would be fixed,… Continue reading