This Essay explores the people’s right to amend state constitutions, particularly in states that recognize the constitutional initiative. Together with other democratic rights that appear in state constitutions but not the federal charter, the right to amend recognizes popular sovereignty as an active commitment.
Scholarship
Wayne Law Review: “Survey of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission’s Inaugural Redistricting Cycle” by Derek Clinger
As part of the Wayne Law Review’s Annual Survey of Michigan Law, Senior Staff Attorney Derek Clinger surveyed the lawsuits involving the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission during the Commission’s inaugural redistricting cycle (2021-2022)
Call for Papers: State Courts Scholarship Roundtable
August 28, 2023 The University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative (SDRI) is pleased to announce a Roundtable on State Courts, to be held on April 19, 2024. The Roundtable will be co-hosted …
Wisconsin Law Review Special Issue 2022: “Interpretation in the States”
Scholarship | State Democracy Research Initiative
Wisconsin Law Review Special Edition featuring papers from our June 2022 Conference
Duke Law Journal: “State Institutions and Democratic Opportunity” by Miriam Seifter
Featured, Scholarship | State Democracy Research Initiative
This Article suggests steps that state courts, state officials, and organizers can take to protect state institutions. At the highest level, it shows how a richer theory and discourse surrounding state institutions can advance both state and national democracy.
Miriam Seifter Presents Lecture on State Institutions and Democratic Opportunity
Featured | Widener Law Commonwealth
John Gedid Lecture Series Presents Miriam Seifter on State Institutions and Democratic Opportunity
Rob Yablon Publishes Op-Ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Wisconsin Supreme Court is wrong to preserve gerrymandered electoral maps”
In the Media, Featured | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court has set the stage for another decade of gerrymandered electoral maps.”
Rob Yablon Discusses Redistricting Case Before the Wisconsin Supreme Court
In the Media | WPR, Central Time
“How the Wisconsin Supreme Court might redraw the state’s legislative maps”
Wisconsin Law Review Special Issue 2021: “Public Law in the States”
Featured | Wisconsin Law Review
Special Issue: Public Law in the States
Robert Yablon’s new article, “Gerrylaundering,” now available on SSRN
In the Media, Featured | NYU Law Review (Forthcoming, 2022)
As they carry out their decennial redistricting duties, those in power sometimes audaciously manipulate district lines to secure an electoral advantage. In other words, they gerrymander.