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In an order issued on Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the district lines “clearly, plainly and palpably” violate the state Constitution and gave the Republican legislature until February 9 to draw new ones. It is the second ruling in less than two weeks where a court has struck down an entire state congressional map as unconstitutional and demanded that the state legislature oversee a redraw in time for the November 2018 elections. However, the U.S. Supreme Court quickly issu

Happy Monday fellow independent voters! Hope you had a great weekend and are anticipating a good, worthwhile, productive, and imminently enjoyable next week of your life, and if you're not, that you're dead set on making it even just slightly more that way to whatever degree it's in your power to do so. And while you're checking in on the news cycle and keeping your finger to the pulse of the republic, if you really want to red pill yourself today, take a few minutes and try to figure out why S

Vermont is the first state to legalize adults’ possession and limited cultivation of marijuana legislatively Marijuana will be legal in nine states and the nation’s capital when Vermont law takes effect MONTPELIER, Vt. — On Monday, Gov. Phil Scott officially signed a bill into law that makes marijuana legal for adults in Vermont. H. 511 eliminates Vermont’s civil penalty for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana and removes penalties for possession of up to two mature marijuana plants and

The Senate voted Monday to re-open the federal government after two days of a government shutdown. The deal reached between Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats extends government funding to February 8 while lawmakers further debate DACA and immigration reform. The final vote for the stopgap measure was 81-18 -- with opposition coming from progressive Democrats, two Republicans, and independent Bernie Sanders. Because of the current hyper-partisan environment in Washington, voters are lookin

Update: The Senate voted Monday to reopen the government, and extend funding until February 8, setting up yet another potential shutdown fight. The recent government shutdown is only the latest manifestation of the partisan logjam gripping America, and sure not to be the last. All the political rhetoric over the past few years — ever since the rise of the Tea Party and the subsequent focus on emotions over results — has been driving us to this point, and it was obvious. Sadly, it may have also

The non-profit legal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is taking the Federal Election Commission to court. Click here to read the actual motion but here is the full press release from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington with a summary: Unnamed donors who funneled nearly two million dollars through a series of entities to a super PAC in an effort to keep their names off the contribution should not be allowed to remain anonymous, according to a mot

UPDATE, January 16, 2018: The Local Options Bill now has a number—HB 2746—and 15 co-sponsors in the Washington legislature. The path to fixing giant problems like gerrymandering, money-soaked elections, and parties’ and officials’ accountability to voters leads through electoral reform, I’ve been arguing (here, here, here, here, here). The path to electoral reform in Washington, DC, leads through the states—the laboratories of democracy. And the clearest path to reform in the states likely lead

All eyes in political reform circles are on the Wisconsin gerrymandering case (Gill v. Whitford) argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on October 3, 2017. The case was brought by a group of Democrats challenging the redistricting plan adopted by the state legislature’s Republican majority and signed into law by its Republican governor. The plaintiffs claimed that their constitutional rights to equal protection and freedom of association were violated because of the disparity between the vote to

We have devoted the 24-hour news cycle to a single word -- "shithole." That is where we are at in the media and the national narrative in 2018. The story erupted after it was reported that President Donald Trump used the word "shithole" to describe Haiti and African nations when discussing US immigration policy with members of Congress Thursday. And the mainstream media jumped all over it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrynNeqx48I Video Source: Washington Post Trump denied saying anything

Living anywhere outside the northern parts of the country means one probably does not know what the bone-chilling, bitter cold of negative-degree temperatures and wind chill feel like. It bites. It blisters. It feels like nothing people outside these regions have ever experienced before. As I describe this, one might wonder why anyone would voluntarily want to be out in such weather. Well, for volunteers with the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting in Maine, defending voters' rights is worth it