Wesley Pegden of Carnegie-Mellon University, Jonathan Rodden of Stanford University, and I joined forces on an amicus brief (PDF). We offered the court our views on the federal partisan gerrymandering case from North Carolina, Rucho v. Common Cause (this link goes to all the other briefs as well). We describe to the court how the various […]
Entries Tagged as 'Supreme Court'
Princeton brief in Rucho v. Common Cause
March 8th, 2019, 5:26pm by Sam Wang
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
Laboratories of Democracy Reform: State Constitutions and Partisan Gerrymandering
February 15th, 2019, 10:46pm by Sam Wang
Uncertain about whether the Supreme Court will do anything about partisan gerrymandering? We have something for you. Rick Ober, Ben Williams, and I have completed a manuscript, “Laboratories of Democracy Reform: State Constitutions and Partisan Gerrymandering.” It’s available here on SSRN. In our article, we argue that partisan gerrymandering can be curtailed on a local […]
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
Supreme Court partisanship comes into full view
October 9th, 2018, 12:07pm by Sam Wang
Kavanaugh’s successful confirmation vote was the closest ever. It’s the culmination of a two-decade trend in all-out partisan warfare, the seeds of which were planted when Gingrich and McConnell swept into power in 1994. It’s now reached a seeming pinnacle with the confirmation of a party insider who was a player in the Starr investigation, […]
Tags: 2018 Election · Senate · Supreme Court
Post-Labor Day movement: for Republicans, a Kavanaugh effect?
October 5th, 2018, 9:24am by Sam Wang
We’re off to a late start this year; more balls in the air, especially gerrymandering, and a busy term. The House and Senate calculations are running for 2018, though we’re still polishing the display. The calculations are designed to pick up movement quickly. Here’s something notable: since Labor Day, both indicators show distinct movement, about […]
Tags: 2018 Election · House · Senate · Supreme Court
Kennedy’s out
June 27th, 2018, 7:10pm by Sam Wang
Action on partisan gerrymandering by the Supreme Court was already on its last legs with the Gill decision. With Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement, at least now we won’t have to sit around wondering what will happen next. To tell the truth, he seemed so passive this term. Stayed with the conservatives on every decision, and […]
Tags: Supreme Court
Texas successfully runs out the clock – and sets an ominous standard
June 25th, 2018, 11:09am by Sam Wang
First, the partisan-gerrymandering news. The North Carolina case, Rucho v. Common Cause, was sent back for reconsideration (“vacate and remand”) in light of the Court’s decision in Gill v. Whitford. Retrying Rucho would take a while, so hopefully they will find a faster way. Now, to racial gerrymandering. In the last redistricting case of this […]
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
Both Sides Now
June 20th, 2018, 6:06pm by Sam Wang
Although I wasn’t thrilled to see the Supreme Court kick the can down the road, the Roberts decision and the Kagan concurrence are quite clarifying, logically speaking. These justices have, in some ways, sorted things out nicely.
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
The Princeton Gerrymandering Project is expanding!
June 1st, 2018, 11:20pm by Sam Wang
Anyone interested in containing partisan gerrymanders is waiting for several major decisions from the Supreme Court this month. But no matter which way those decisions go, the next stage of reform will be local. For this reason, my team at the Princeton Gerrymandering Project is making plans to expand our research efforts, which bridge mathematics and […]
Tags: Princeton · Redistricting · Supreme Court
SCOTUS Tea Leaf Watch
May 23rd, 2018, 8:51am by Sam Wang
The anti-labor Epic Systems decision reminds us that the Supreme Court is fundamentally conservative in its outlook – in the political sense, not a textualist sense. Edith Roberts has the roundup. FantasySCOTUS watch: I give you the top 16 punters. Gill v. Whitford: 9 guess affirm, 5 reverse. Benisek v. Lamone: 10 reverse, 5 affirm, […]
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
Tea Leaves II: FantasySCOTUS renders a verdict
May 5th, 2018, 2:09am by Sam Wang
(Welcome to readers of SCOTUSblog! -Sam) Postscript: Obviously, you can do what I did here for other cases. You are welcome to post your results in comments. Better yet, if you want to write a program to do this automatically, that would be quite welcome! This week, Heather Gerken, election law scholar and Dean of […]
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
