The political jockeying over the nomination of the next Supreme Court justice is underway. The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast team discusses how politicians are reacting and what the court will look like if, as seems likely, Chief Justice John Roberts winds up in the ideological middle. The team also checks in […] Read more »
Trump’s ‘Purple’ Family Values
… In their book “Red Families v. Blue Families,” Naomi Cahn and June Carbone popularized the idea of “blue” and “red” family models. Blue families prize equality and companionship between spouses while putting a low value on childbearing. Red families tend to be inegalitarian or complementarian, viewing the man as […] Read more »
A bad week for Democrats gives rise to a big problem: Outrage could become an obstacle in midterms
Growing liberal agitation over a pivotal Supreme Court retirement and a simmering crisis of migrant child separation have left Democratic leaders scrambling to keep the political outrage they’d counted on to fuel midterm election wins from becoming a liability for the party. Internal party debates have broken into public view […] Read more »
Bernie Sanders-backed nominees score wins, but in longshot races
In the wake of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s surprising Democratic Primary win in New York’s 14th congressional district, much of the talk this political week has centered on the rising power of the party’s liberal wing. But a look at the House primary results from the first half of 2018, shows a […] Read more »
Why public opinion could save Roe v. Wade
… Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement this week. Many believe this vacancy will allow President Donald Trump to appoint a justice who is against Roe and could be part of a majority to overturn it. It’s possible that the only thing that will stop the Court from […] Read more »
Weaponizing the First Amendment: How Free Speech Became a Conservative Cudgel
On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm. The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California law […] Read more »