In The News

Smerconish.com: The Independent State Doctrine May Soon Be Adopted by the Supreme Court— Frightening! December 6, 2022 | Madame Justice Sandra Schultz Newman and Ari Mittleman | Smerconish After the unrelenting crusade by election deniers to overturn the 2020 election, which reached its low point, if not its end, with the January 6 riot, many…

Supreme Court case on state legislatures could have ‘devastating consequences’ December 5, 2022 | Wilson Huhn & Jonathan Winer | City & State Pennsylvania This week the Supreme Court of the United States is hearing Moore v. Harper, a case with potentially devastating consequences for our democracy. In that case the Court is considering whether…

Congress Needs to Rein in Presidential Emergency Powers Now Several important bills could be combined during this lame-duck session—before Republicans take over and you-know-who might become president again. November 30, 2022 | Mark Medish | The New Republic This lame duck Congress has a lot on its plate, and many of these items have received…

Are We 'One Nation Indivisible,' or Doomed to 'Divided We Fall'? | Opinion November 30, 2022 | Patricia Duff and Tom Rogers | Newsweek Over the last several years many have bemoaned the plague of extraordinarily deep partisan divides spreading across the country, fraying our unity, undermining social trust, and tearing at our democracy. At…

On Tuesday, don’t forget to thank the election workers who make democracy possible | Opinion Be patient. We’ll have results. It will just take a while November 7, 2022 | Ken Davis and Ari Mittelman | Pennsylvania Capital-Star Local election workers and volunteers who work the polls, count the votes and otherwise make sure our…

Pa. voters shouldn’t expect results on Election Day – but trust the system, judges say November 3, 2022 | David Wenner | Penn Live It could take days or even months to know the final results of Tuesday’s election. That’s especially true of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race between John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz which,…

Pa. elections likely to generate a new round of lawsuits over mail-in ballots, retired judges say ‘It’s very unfortunate that this question is hanging out there unresolved,’ retired federal Judge John E. Jones said November 2, 2022 | Peter Hall | Pennsylvania Capital-Star The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s evenly divided result in the latest case seeking…

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Makes Decision on Mail-in Ballots Ahead of November 8th November 2, 2022 | Jake Sarwar | Fox 56 WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE CO. (WOLF) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has made a historic ruling in regard to mail-in ballots throughout the state. FOX56’s Jake Sarwar sat in on a press conference this morning and…

Court decisions and challenges cause "utter chaos" in PA election November 2, 2022 | Michael Gorsegner | CBS 21 News York, PA — Just hours after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court drops a ruling on a case involving undated mail ballots, more questions than answers remain. Undated ballots is just one of a slew of potential…

There’s a Huge Divide Among Democrats Over How Hard to Campaign for Democracy Democratic leaders and voters say they care about protecting democracy, but it’s not driving their behavior in the midterms. August 21, 2022 | David Siders | POLITICO Article describes how Democratic leaders and voters say they care about protecting democracy but that…

The Worst Supreme Court Decision Is Yet to Come | Opinion August 1, 2022 | Tom Rogers | Newsweek Former Senator Tim Wirth and I wrote a column recently on how a Republican landslide in the House of Representatives races this fall will create a very clear path for Donald Trump to be re-elected president…

Time for President Biden to push emergency powers reform June 16, 2022 | Richard Gephardt, Gary Hart and Mark Medish | The Hill The Jan. 6 Committee hearings that began last week will highlight the many ways in which Donald Trump’s presidency exposed the fragility of our democracy. Indeed, Congress has been considering major reform…