California's minor parties -- Green, Libertarian and Peace & Freedom -- have brought their third lawsuit, Rubin v Bowen, seeking to overturn Proposition 14, the referendum by which the non-partisan "top-two" primary system was adopted in June, 2010. The core issue being raised is federal in nature, that their constitutional...

A strange case in Tennessee got my attention. Now it's before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, as the judges consider whether a political party has the right to overturn the results of a primary election conducted entirely in accordance with state law.

Here's the background. Rosalind...

President Obama's "recess" appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has caused a partisan political flap. The GOP is threatening court action to redress what they see as an effort to circumvent the Senate's authority to confirm presidential appointments. The White House, with an eye...

In the wake of the debt ceiling debate, some are saying that "the gulf between the political parties" has called into question the government's ability to manage its finances, and raising questions concerning the "effectiveness, stability and predictability of American policy making and political institutions."

No, I'm not quoting

This post was co-written by Michael Hardy

A pitched debate in Black political and academic circles about President Barack Obama's commitment to fighting for a Black Agenda has broken into the mainstream media with a bang. The Washington Post, MSNBC, 60 Minutes, and The Amsterdam News have each noted aspects...

The first set of demands made by the people of Egypt after Mubarak stepped aside was that the army suspend the constitution and dissolve parliament. At the same time the punditry here in the U.S. are saying that in order for the Egyptian revolution to bring viable democracy to that...

Last week the California Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction blocking the implementation of Proposition 14 in several upcoming special elections. The measure, which won 54% of the vote in a referendum last June, eliminates party primaries in favor of a "top two" system where there is a first...

In the wake of the resounding victory of Proposition 14 at the California polls on June 8th, advocates of continued partisan control of our electoral process have begun to marshal their arguments in an attempt to close the breach CA voters opened in the partisan citadel.

Proposition 14 abolished party...

Independents, now more than forty percent of the American electorate, are challenging the domination of our politics and government by the two major parties. They seek full participation and structural solutions to the hyper-partisanship in Washington and state capitals across the country. A series of recent federal court decisions reflect...

I was disappointed to see that my friend and colleague, Ralph Nader, recently spoke out against Proposition 14, the California ballot initiative that proposes to reform the electoral process in America's most populous state. If passed, Prop 14 would allow all voters, whether affiliated with a party or not, to...

The battle over the wording of CA prop 14 -- sometimes called the top two or open primary initiative -- likely ended yesterday with a ruling by a California Court of Appeals upholding the lower court's refusal to alter the language that will appear on the ballot to describe the...