In our system, states have a measure of independence of the federal government. This is newly important because in many places, state courts have become the best route for protecting voting rights. But that’s in question, as evidenced by a 4-4 Supreme Court ruling last week. However, this is one area where you have a […]
Entries Tagged as 'Supreme Court'
The future of federalism is on the ballot
October 24th, 2020, 1:21pm by Sam Wang
Tags: 2020 Election · Senate · Supreme Court · U.S. Institutions
Two Days With R.B.G.
September 18th, 2020, 10:36pm by Sam Wang
In 2008 I spent two days hosting Ruth Bader Ginsburg here on campus. The experience was unforgettable. She was kind to all comers, she took questions seriously, even from some neuroscience professor, and she acted like a friend.
Tags: Princeton · Supreme Court
Moneyball politics: Florida (Part III)
July 27th, 2020, 8:19pm by Zachariah Sippy
On Friday, former Miami Heat superstar LeBron James and his newly formed voting rights organization, More Than A Vote, announced a partnership with the Florida Rights Restoration Commission (FRRC). This $100,000 campaign is part of FRRC’s larger effort to ensure that formerly incarcerated individuals will be able to vote this November. But it’s a drop […]
Tags: 2020 Election · Moneyball · Redistricting · Supreme Court
Authoritarianism in 2020: Checking the checklist
June 4th, 2020, 12:47pm by Sam Wang
August 23: Re-upping this, an advance checklist of what to look for. Also, recently Ruth Ben-Ghiat reviewed how a whole political party was co-opted by an authoritarian-minded outsider. Also, the Republican Party has announced that in lieu of a platform, its position is to support whatever Donald Trump wants to do. January 6, 2021: This […]
Tags: President · Supreme Court · U.S. Institutions
A Fifty-State Guide To Redistricting Reform
July 13th, 2019, 6:00pm by Sam Wang
As I wrote in today’s New York Times, despite the failure of the Supreme Court to act, there’s a way forward to stop gerrymandering. Here at the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, we’ve assessed the best route to reform in your state. Check it out! One route to reform goes through state courts, as Ben Williams reported […]
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
John Roberts’s disproportionate error
June 27th, 2019, 1:05pm by Sam Wang
Today, the Supreme Court ran away from the question of partisan gerrymandering. Chief Justice Roberts’s majority decision cited the problem of “proportional representation” as an impediment to establishing a standard of fairness. His argument has a major logical problem which is easily fixed – though at this point, it will have to be done in […]
Tags: Redistricting · Supreme Court
Princeton brief in Rucho v. Common Cause
March 8th, 2019, 5:26pm by Sam Wang
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 […]
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 and here as a PDF. In our article, we argue that partisan gerrymandering can […]
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
