In both Wisconsin and Michigan, Democrats followed a similar formula last month to win the governorship and other key statewide offices: big turnout in urban centers and gains in white-collar suburbs. But in each state, Republican dominance of small-town and rural communities—reinforced by a highly partisan gerrymander of legislative district […] Read more »
What comes next in the fight against partisan gerrymandering
With the midterm elections only weeks away, the shape of U.S. House districts is again front and center in political conversation. A central question is how much Republican-drawn maps might disadvantage Democratic candidates. To tackle this issue and the debate about redistricting generally, I talked to two scholars: Jonathan Rodden […] Read more »
How Kavanaugh Will Change The Supreme Court
Since July, when President Trump announced his most recent nomination to the Supreme Court, FiveThirtyEight has been analyzing the effects of a potential Justice Kavanaugh — a potential that is now reality. Kavanaugh was confirmed on Saturday by a 50-48 vote in the Senate. Based on what we know about […] Read more »
Kavanaugh ‘circus’ is a disaster for an independent judiciary
Jak Allen, University of Kent Political grandstanding during the nomination of a new US Supreme Court justice is perhaps to be expected in the era of Donald Trump. But the process surrounding Brett Kavanaugh – and his testimony on September 28 – has caused potentially irreparable damage to the one […] Read more »
Here’s why confirming Kavanaugh could seriously undermine the Supreme Court’s public standing
Could Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination undermine the public standing of the Supreme Court? Observers such as the Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein think so. “Every time [Chief Justice John] Roberts would lean on Kavanaugh to construct a majority,” Brownstein writes, “the chief justice could further erode the Court’s already eroding public confidence.” In […] Read more »
C-SPAN/PSB Survey: American Attitudes about U.S. Supreme Court
As the Senate readies its consideration of a new Supreme Court Justice, a new poll suggests high public interest in the Court and strong understanding of the Court’s influence on our society. C-SPAN asked research-based consultancy PSB (psbresearch.com) to gauge public opinion among likely voters regarding our third branch of […] Read more »