Over the weekend, we learned some exciting news in the effort to end prison gerrymandering: a federal judge struck down a Florida county’s districting plan due to unlawful distortions caused by counting a prison population in the wrong place.
In May, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online will publish a series of essays examining the role that political equality could play in the Supreme Court’s campaign finance jurisprudence. The authors in this collection are helping to relaunch a conversation that has been stagnant for forty years.
The University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online has released a Special Issue on Campaign Finance exploring alternatives to the Supreme Court’s analysis in Buckley vs. Valeo, the foundational money in politics case decided 40 years ago this year.
Differences of opinion are certainly important, but at some point the question of how inclusive the dominant society must be to the concerns of different people will have to move beyond the realm of personal preference.
The Rising American Electorate was credited with helping Barack Obama win the presidency in 2008 and his reelection in 2012. Comprised of people of color, women, and young people, this Rising Electorate represents people in constituencies that have been underserved in a political system that increasingly caters to the needs of the wealthy.
Immigration policy is considered the holy grail of policies when it comes to attracting Latino voters. Immigration is explicitly mentioned in the post-2012 Republican autopsy report as one of the strategies to increase the party’s base racial and ethnic diversity.
Confidence in American political institutions is at one of its lowest points in recorded history. About one out of every ten Americans expresses confidence in Congress and roughly one-third have confidence in the presidency or the Supreme Court, according to a Gallup poll from June. By contrast, nearly three-quarters of Americans have confidence in the military; a small majority trust the police.
Latino/as distrust of the Republican Party was high even before explicitly racist language became mainstream again this year. Much of this distrust is rooted in the GOP’s discourse on immigrants and immigration, but immigration is not the only policy area in which Latinos and Republicans diverge in opinion.
Latino/as’ changing economic fortunes in the wake of the Great Recession and the racist undertones of anti-immigrant rhetoric are major sources of their disillusionment with the Republican Party. While Latino/as have more positive attitudes toward the Democratic Party, their feelings are lukewarm.
BREAKING CAMPAIGN UPDATE: The 127K petitions sit untouched, Mayor Gimenez refuses to act, and the campaign coalitions have begun holding direction actions and have filed a lawsuit in attempts to get the county to do their job and count the petitions.
Although the socioeconomic biases in representation are most apparent at the state and national levels, many of our elected officials start their careers at the local level.
Aside from the personal costs of running for office, and the structural problems stemming from the way we elect representatives, money is a major issue when it comes to the representation of people of color. While personal resources play a role in the decision to pursue elective office, it also takes money, sometimes a lot of money, to run for office.
Several weeks ago Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson agreed to be a guest on my City University television program. A few days later his office called to say he was ill and would have to reschedule.
What to do when the leader of your party faces unprecedented ethics challenges, including being in violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on payments from foreigners the day he becomes President?
Our research shows that state and local policies shielding immigration status information are generally permitted. Local law enforcement’s refusal to honor federal immigration detainer requests is also permitted and may even be required to avoid liability for constitutional violations.
Nuestras investigaciones demuestran como las normas estatales y locales que protegen a información sobre el status migratorio de la gente son generalmente permitidas. Por parte de la policía local, la denegación de honrar a solicitudes que detengan a los inmigrantes, también es permitida y aún puede ser requerida para evitar violaciones de la Constitución.