Louisiana Redistricting Plans Get Jindal Signature, Head to DOJ for Section 5 Preclearance

Worth watching.

"Tainting Justice with Politics"

The NY Times editorializes about the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

Trevor Potter Tapped for World's Most Important Job

See here and here.

Is the New Florida Elections Bill "Good Old Fashioned Voter Suppression" and "Jim Crow Tactics"?

Those are the charges. Dan Smith calls it "full employment for election lawyers."

"The Effect of the 17th Amendment on the Party Composition of the Senate: A Counterfactual Analysis"

Charles Stewart has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The 17th Amendment is perhaps the most significant change in the American electoral system brought about through amending the Constitution. It changed the theory about who senators represented, shifting the focus from state governments, per se, to the residents of states. Mechanically, it shifted the electorate from the relatively small confines of state legislatures to much larger mass electorates. Lest we lose track of its significance, many supporters of the Tea Party movement blame the 17th Amendment for causing :a failure in the federalist structure, federal deficit spending, inappropriate federal mandates, and federal control over a number of state institutions." The respectability of this position was demonstrated when a half dozen Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in 2010 expressed support for repeal, including victorious candidates in Florida, Colorado, and Utah. Leaving aside the question of whether the 17th Amendment led to the destruction of federalism and state institutions, the fact that it so significantly changed the electoral system for Senate candidates naturally raises the question of how candidates, victorious senators, and the Senate itself changed because of the amendment's ratification. This is not a new thought, as is evidenced by the small-but-vigorous literature on the subject (King and Ellis 1996; Crook and Hibbing 1997; Wirls 1999; Ellis and King 1999; Engstrom and Kernell 2003; Rogers 2009; Gailmard and Jenkins 2009).

"Teachers' Union Launches 'Emergency' Campaign for Tax Extensions"

The Bay Citizen offers this report.

Will CU Hinder Tax Reform?

Check out this article in the Washington Times.

Daily Kos: No Evidence of Fraud in WI Supreme Court Race

But an investigation into election official incompetence is in order. More on Democrats allegations from TPM.

Wisconsin, Florida Facing Democracy Shortage

According to the Borowitz Report.