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The focus of the Russia investigation this week is on Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. However, another name has been thrown into the ever-expanding Russia narrative: Dr. Jill Stein, former Green Party presidential candidate. https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/888461093718429699 MSNBC Producer Kyle Griffin tweeted out a letter sent by the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 19 requesting all communications between Trump Jr. and a number of other people, including Russia of

"Partisan gerrymandering is diluting the voice of the American people," writes US Rep. John K. Delaney (D-Md.) in a Facebook post. Delaney posted a video on his Facebook Page Monday explaining in simple terms how partisan gerrymandering works, and how his "Open Our Democracy Act" would end the partisan gerrymander. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a partisan gerrymandering case out of Wisconsin. The high court set an October 3 hearing for oral argument. In 2012, Delaney explains, Rep

The Supreme Court of the United States has released its October oral argument calendar. Bloomberg SCOTUS reporter Greg Stohr tweeted the cases that will be heard, which includes the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford: https://twitter.com/GregStohr/status/887733773827289099 SCOTUS decided in June to hear the case. It also stayed a lower court's order that the Wisconsin legislature redraw its state Assembly districts by November. The lower district court found that the electoral di

"A cancer on our democracy." Those are the words U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar used to describe the two-party gerrymandering scheme going on in Maryland and across the country. A US district court sided with GOP voters Friday, describing Maryland's redistricting process as "nefarious activity." They found sufficient evidence that the Democratic majority drew district boundaries to make it easier to knock out a GOP incumbent and take all, but one congressional seat. It is the second time

ILLINOIS - Political reform in Illinois comes slowly, but one group is renewing the effort to put redistricting back in the hands of the people. After each decennial census, a state’s district maps are redrawn. In most states, politicians draw the boundaries which generally favor the majority party. As in the case of Illinois after 2010, Democrats held the governor’s office and veto-proof majorities in the state legislature. Consequently, they redrew district boundaries without Republican inpu

The United States of America's Founding Fathers were spurred to declare independence by a long litany of abuses by the King's government in England. In many cases, if you read through the text of Jefferson's Declaration, you'll find these abuses are procedural in nature. It wasn't precisely what the government did, but how the government did it that mattered. Simply the processes of government themselves, the form of the rules for engaging in the act of governing, can be the most powerful way

The fight against gerrymandering nationwide is taking a new turn. Courts are no longer just looking at discrimination based on race, sex, or class, but political discrimination and partisan motives to consolidate power and weaken the voice of voters outside the party in power. First it was Wisconsin. Then it was Pennsylvania. Now, more states are open to legal challenges against partisan gerrymandering thanks to the "efficiency gap," the statistical method used in Whitford v. Gill to determine

“I’m not sure there should be any restrictions whatsoever, because I don’t think it is the court’s business to draw lines. There are many rules right now — that the courts have laid out — that if you want your redistricting map approved you have to meet.” - US Rep. Glenn Grothman That was the response US Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) gave on the Supreme Court's decision to hear the partisan gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford. Grothman made these comments in an interview with Matt Kittle of th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mXD9mN4EI8 Update 6/19/17: The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to issue a stay in Gill v. Whitford. This means until the justices rule on the case itself, the current electoral maps will stay in place. The Supreme Court will decide if a lower federal court was right to find that Wisconsin's state Assembly maps violated the constitution on the basis of a partisan gerrymander. The high court's decision to hear the case is a big deal. Up until November, federal courts la

Pennsylvania is the latest battleground over the issue of partisan gerrymandering. Several plaintiffs filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging congressional maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania General Assembly that are "so bizarrely engineered that the only fair inference is that the Republican mapmakers made them so for partisan advantage." What is unique about this lawsuit is that the plaintiffs are not making a constitutional challenge based on race, sex, or any other class. Th