Rick Pildes

I'm honored to be thanked by Sen. Manchin, along with @derektmuller @Nedfoley @jacklgoldsmith and Brad Smith, Michael McConnell, and Bob Bauer, for our work on the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022. @CassSunstein

Coincidental timing: I've posted some findings from my co-authored article (with Mike Norton) titled How Outside Money Makes Governing More Difficult. I'll do a separate thread on that, but here's a link: electionlawblog.org/wp-admin/post.… @teddyschleifer

link here:balkin.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-er…

The current Fifth French Republic was specifically designed to empower a strong, independently elected President and a strong government. Its system of two-round elections was chosen to empower electoral majorities, as a rebuke of the Fourth Republic’s proportional-representation system, which was thought to have paralyzed French government. Yet France is close to ungovernable. In another variation, Germany uses a mixed-member parliamentary system that ensures proportional representation, with significant power residing in the individual states (the Länder). The prior, completely dysfunctional government was replaced in 2025; yet since then the Chancellor who had been elected, Friedrich Merz, has suffered the steepest decline in popularity, with his current “favorability” rating plummeting to -48%. Most democratic governments in the West have been unable during this period to deliver significant economic growth and are riven with conflicts over the rise of national identity issues, including immigration. The technological revolution constantly disrupts democratic politics and weakens political authority. Steve Skowronek’s new book teems with arresting insights, but the question whether our current democratic struggles lie in our institutions, or our deeper political culture, remains open.

I've published this review essay, titled The Era of Democratic Dissatisfaction, of Stephen Skowronek's new book, The Adaptability Paradox: Political Inclusion and Constitutional Resilience. I'll excerpt the essay here in a series of posts, then provide a link: "We live in an Era of Democratic Dissatisfaction. Over the last 10-15 years, large numbers of citizens have been continuously expressing discontent, distrust, alienation, anger and worse with governments across nearly all Western democracies, no matter which parties or coalitions are in power. One expression of this dissatisfaction is that democratic governments have become more fragile and unstable. In just the past couple years, the governments in Germany, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Canada have collapsed prematurely, forcing those countries to hold snap elections. Spain has been forced to hold five general elections in the last ten years, in the search for a stable governing majority; for the same reason, the U.K. held four national elections from 2015-2024 and might well be careening to another one, long before the presumptive five-year term for the current government comes to an end.

Every Ben Macintyre book is a gripping dramatic narrative of true events from the world of deception and espionage. If you like that genre, you can't go wrong picking any of his books at random.

I posted this yesterday to provide some context for my academic work that was discussed at yesterday's Supreme Court argument on the ballot-deadline issue: electionlawblog.org/?p=155034

@Nolan_Mc That's an interesting theory, which would explain at least the R side of the story.

@RickPildes My conjecture is that intra-party politics is more important than inter-party politics. The moderates want protection from their party leaders

I'm intrigued by the partisan politics over the filibuster. The Senate is currently biased toward Republicans and likely to remain so for a while. Partisan self-interest would thus suggest Ds are more likely to benefit from the filibuster than Rs. Yet Ds look more likely to be the party that would get rid of it. Is it possible both parties are motivated by principled considerations? Rs genuinely believe governance is better with the filibuster, Ds genuinely believe it is not -- despite partisan self-interest running in the other direction.

If you want to understand the details of what's in and not in the SAVE Act, this long post by Derek Muller is the place to go: electionlawblog.org/?p=154686

It's not even the public. It's college students pre-disposed to be supportive.

I've filed an amicus brief in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court defending the constitutionality of ranked-choice voting under the Maine constitution. For the background on this issue and the litigation in state courts over it, see this blog post on Election Law Blog electionlawblog.org/wp-admin/post.…

From the Financial Times: "The US government is expected to drop its legal effort to enforce punitive executive orders targeting top law firms, abandoning a fight that rocked Big Law after Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House is set to terminate its appeal efforts in four cases involving Jenner & Block, Perkins Coie, Wilmer Hale and Susman Godfrey, potentially as soon as Monday, the people said."

@grok @amberdawn1786 @curiosityonx @grok where would be best in manhattan

Hey! For Chicago's 6-planet alignment (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn naked-eye; Uranus/Neptune need binoculars), head to the lakefront: Adler Planetarium peninsula or Montrose Point for clear western horizon. Sunset 5:39 PM CST tomorrow—start looking ~6:10 PM. Clear skies key! 🔭

90% of people will miss this tonight because they’re looking at their phones. DON’T BE ONE OF THEM. ☄️ The planets are literally aligning for us on this February 28th. A rare 6-planet alignment is happening right now, and it’s the perfect time to set an intention, make a wish, or just sit back and marvel at how tiny we really are. The universe is putting on a free show—don’t forget to look up. 🔭

I believe the best explanation for this is that we use primaries to nominate candidates while their nomination process runs through the party leadership. Here, strong dissidents can challenge their party from within. Because that's so much harder in the UK, it pushes dissidents to form and support new parties.