Richard Pildes

Anita Dunn's essay today is titled Dunn served as senior advisor to President Biden and the Biden-Harris campaign and as senior campaign advisor and White House Communications Director to President Obama.

I favor replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote. But I have been critical of the National Popular Vote Compact (NPV), which is a circuitous way of trying to accomplish that objective. My reluctance to endorse the NPV stems from the fact that I believe one or more states is all too likely to abandon it when the political circumstances become unfavorable. It's an unstable “solution” likely to collapse when it threatens to make a difference, which would destabilize a presidential election.

In the Democratic primaries in Maine for Governor and the open-seat congressional district, ME-2, the candidates who were second after the first round of votes were tabulated ending up winning their primaries as the ranked-choice voting process was completed. Here's one story on these races.

I've posted this article at SSRN. Here's the abstract: We are living through an era of widespread democratic dissatisfaction, distrust, alienation and anger.

Rick Hasen links to an Atlantic article that describes the intense infighting and litigation between Maricopa County's Recorder and its Board of Supervisors over which entity has authority over various aspects of election administration in this important county. The lower court had ordered the Recorder to transfer certain functions to the Board. In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court stayed that decision. Interestingly, the appellate court relied heavily on the Purcell doctrine, arguing that the district court would cause too much disorder with primary elections imminent.

I put up a short pos t explaining why the current redistricting wars illustrate the risk that the National Popular Vote Compact (NPV) will come unraveled in the circumstances in which it might actually matter. Not surprisingly, John Koza, an architect of the NPV, has posted a response . I feel a need to respond briefly to clear up misunderstandings. I'll use John's headings to respond (and I won't respond further, since this is enough on this issue):

The Netherlands has entered a new phase of political fragmentation. Forming the Rutte IV cabinet in 2022 required 299 days — the longest government formation in Dutch history.

I've published this essay at the NYU Democracy Project on how Congress might address both partisan gerrymandering and issues of racial representation with an approach that recognizes the realities of both partisan politics and incumbent self-protection.

I just learned about a form of ranked-choice voting the UK uses, called the “supplementary vote,” for electing mayors where they are directly elected (an exception was the 2024 London mayoral election, when standard first-past-the-post was used). I learned of this system because Greater Manchester just had a by-election for mayor, in order to fill the seat that Andy Burnham vacated when he was elected to Parliament and then became Prime Minister.

I've recently learned about a new, promising program to help high schoolers learn the art of civil tolerance: the High School Law Review. Its mission is to help high school students learn how to agreeably disagree, by engaging directly with the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court cases, publishing their own ideas, and learning to articulate and challenge opposing viewpoints with clarity, rigor, and respect. Students defend their legal arguments through published local, state, and national law reviews – with the competition and prestige increasing at every level. The HSLR's online platform, Studium, also gives teachers the tools to bring the program to their classrooms — including a publishing template for the final product.