Let’s face it, Democrats have had a pretty rough go of it lately. Ever since President Obama’s route in 2008, the party has suffered devastating losses in three of the four elections since. In 2009, Democrats had the White House, a majority in the House with 257 seats under party control, 58 seats in the Senate that later became 60 due… Read more »
The Supreme Court gave redistricting reform advocates, and by extension Democrats, a big win this morning when it unanimously rejected a challenge by Virginia Republicans to a court ordered map drawn by a three judge that drastically altered the state’s 3rd and 4th District, and marginally changed the 1st, 2nd, and 7th. Virginia’s new map came about after the same… Read more »
Optional musical accompaniment to this post. Two CD8 debates were held over the weekend. Unfortunately, I was under quarantine as part of my treatment for debate oversaturation syndrome (DOS). So we’ll have to rely on the media for some context. The first debate was moderated by Brian Karem of the Montgomery Sentinel. From media accounts and reports from the candidates,… Read more »
I’ve written about this previously, and today the Supreme Court breathed new life into a gerrymandering claim against Maryland’s 2011 congressional redistricting plan. By a unanimous vote of 9-0, the Court (per Justice Scalia) sent the case back to the district court to convene a three judge panel to hear the case on the merits. As previously noted, the precise issue before… Read more »
Not as good a day at the Supreme Court today as Friday (only one out of three decisions went the right way), but the one was very significant. In a moderately surprising development, Justice Anthony Kennedy again sided with the four liberal justices to uphold Arizona’s independent redistricting commission. The commission was originally adopted by state voters via the initiative… Read more »