articles+ search results

POLITICAL parties, PARTISANSHIP, CITIZENS, IDEOLOGICAL conflict, COLLECTIVE representation, FORTUNE, and IDEOLOGY

While scholars posit an electoral link between congressional approval and majority party electoral fortunes, it is unclear whether citizens are grounding their assessments of approval on policy or valence grounds, such as retrospective economic evaluations. Whereas it is commonly understood that there is an ideological component to constituents' job approval of their individual members of Congress, in addition to a strong partisan effect, the ideological basis of institutional approval has not been established. Using cross-sectional and panel survey data, which allow for scaling citizens and the congressional parties in the same ideological space, I demonstrate that, distinct from the partisan basis of congressional approval, citizens' ideological distance from the majority party has a separate and distinct effect. These results suggest that the link between congressional approval and majority party fortunes is rooted in the collective ideological representation provided by the legislative majority in an increasingly responsible U.S. Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POLITICAL science, ACTIVISM, PRESIDENTIAL administrations, HISTORICAL analysis, CONTENT analysis, and CHINA-United States relations

The Sino-U.S. relations tumbled during the Trump Administration. The talk of decoupling permeated the decision-making circle in Washington D.C. Many factors have contributed to the free fall. The roles Congress has played are undoubtedly one of them. Based on the new institutionalist approach, this study provides three analyses of recent China-related legislative activities. First, the historical analysis of legislative data illustrates a surge in congressional activism on China-related legislative activities. Second, the content analysis reveals some of the triggers in the deterioration of bilateral relations in recent years. Third, the political analysis of the critical congressional players and the structures and procedures Congress created provides some insight into the domestic and political logic of the congressional crusade against China. Finally, the paper ends with assessing the impact of the surge in Congressional activism on the new Biden Administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HISPANIC Americans, PARTICIPATION, LEGISLATIVE committees, LEGISLATIVE voting, and COMMITTEES

In this article, I look at how differences in committee participation help further explain the way Latinos are represented in Congress. I examine levels of participation in four committees in the House of Representatives for the 109th–112th Congresses. I find that Latino committee members participate at greater levels when high Latino saliency legislation is considered, but overall they do not engage in greater committee activity compared to non-Latino members. I also find that a higher percentage of Latinos in a district leads to greater levels of activity among committee members, especially when considering high Latino saliency bills. The results show that Latinos receive substantive representation in committees via district composition, but that descriptive representation is relative and not absolute. These findings may speak to the continued lack of Latino institutional power and the tradeoffs Latino members must consider when deciding where and when to invest legislative effort. Furthermore, the results underscore the importance of institutional context in assessing the link between descriptive and substantive representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FREEDOM of information, PRESIDENTS of the United States, and FREEDOM of Information Act (U.S.)

Congress enacted the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") to ensure that "any person" could gain access to all the executive branch information that could safely be disclosed, without any special showing of need. thereby enhancing the ability of citizens to know what their government is doing. Writing in 1982. then-Professor Antonin Scalia ridiculed the concept of active citizenship which FOIA embodied, asserting that the statute was the product of "an obsession [with the ideal that the first line of defense against an arbitrary executive is do-it-yourself oversight by the public and ... the press. That was a "romantic notion, he thought, because significant disclosures of executive branch information do not ordinarily result from the work of the press or the public, but from the operation of institutionalized checks and balances, that is, through the tug - and-pull between Congress and the President. Four decades later, it seems clear that the choice implicit in Professor Scalia's account is a false one: the health of our representative democracy depends on the vitality of both avenues of access to executive information, and both avenues require shoring up. On the one hand, FOIA has not fully satisfied its proponents' expectations with respect to its "informing function. " meaning its capacity for enhancing the public's knowledge of government and for promoting active citizenship. On the other hand, lessons from the recent past suggest that Professor Scalia's faith in Congress's superior ability to secure information from an uncooperative executive may itself be something of a "romantic notion. " This Article will explore both avenues, the ways in which they have not fulfilled their promise, and how they might be made more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GENDER, WOMEN legislators, WOMEN'S rights, VIOLENCE against women, and ABORTION laws

As critical mass theorists have argued, the number of female legislators is important in the enactment of gender-status laws. Female legislators share strong beliefs on women's rights and have easily coordinated their legislative activities on gender issues. In addition, their strong coordination and consequent political influence have often allowed them to form a legislative majority by influencing male legislators. Gender policies, however, are frequently associated with non-gender policy dimensions on which female legislators tend to have different ideas. Thus, when a gender issue is interpreted in terms of a conspicuous non-gender policy dimension, critical mass theory may not work properly; the heterogeneity of female legislators regarding non-gender policy dimensions can weaken their legislative coordination, thereby hampering gender-status lawmaking. This article examines these propositions by reviewing the legislative histories of violence against women and the legality of abortion in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

QUANTITATIVE research, LEGISLATION, ACTIVISM, GOVERNMENTALITY, and CHINA-United States relations

Through a quantitative analysis of Taiwan–related legislation between 1979 and 2020, the article finds that the degree of Taiwan–related legislation is significantly correlated with the degree of tension in U.S.—China relations. While a deteriorating cross–Taiwan Strait relationship is clearly associated with the increasing legislative activities for the sake of Taiwan, an improving relationship from the state of fair to good cannot guarantee a decrease of such activities. A unified government and the extent of the Taiwan lobby are both helpful in passing pro–Taiwan acts but statistically insignificant. A content analysis of pro–Taiwan bills approved by the Trump administration suggests a creeping movement to "normalize" U.S–Taiwan relations with congressional activism and the less-restrained White House as a co–engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ENVIRONMENTAL policy, UNITED States elections, VOTING, and LEGISLATORS

Do elections affect legislators' voting patterns? We investigate this question in the context of environmental policy in the U.S. Congress. We theorize that since the general public is generally in favor of legislation protecting the environment, legislators have an incentive to favor the public over industry and vote for pro‐environment legislation at election time. The argument is supported by analyses of data on environmental roll call votes for the U.S. Congress from 1970 to 2013 where we estimate the likelihood of casting a pro‐environment vote as a function of the time to an election. While Democrats are generally more likely to cast a pro‐environment vote before an election, this effect is much stronger for Republicans when the legislator won the previous election by a thinner margin. The election effect is maximized for candidates receiving substantial campaign contributions from the (anti‐environment) oil and gas industry. Analysis of Twitter data confirms that Congressmembers make pro‐environmental statements and highlight their roll call voting behavior during the election season. These results show that legislators do strategically adjust their voting behavior to favor the public immediate prior to an election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRESIDENTS and MARBURY v. Madison

Whether the Constitution grants the President a removal power is a longstanding, far-reaching, and hotly contested question. Based on new materials from the Founding and early practice, we defend the Madisonian view that the “executive power” encompassed authority to remove executive officials at pleasure. This conception prevailed in Congress and described executive branch practice, with Presidents issuing commissions during pleasure and removing executive officers at will. While some Justices and scholars assert that Congress has broad legislative power to curb executive removals, their reading leads to a host of troubles. If, as some argue, Congress can limit the grounds for a presidential removal, what prevents Congress from likewise limiting the grounds for executive pardons, judicial judgments, and impeachment removals? The far-reaching legislative power that some scholars advance cannot be cabined to presidential removals. We also respond to a number of judicial and scholarly critiques, many grounded in claims about early statutes and practices. Though valuable, these critiques misunderstand or ignore certain practices, sources, and key episodes, like the events surrounding Marbury v. Madison. There was a widespread consensus that the President had constitutional power to remove, and early laws did not limit, much less bar, presidential removal of executive officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNITED States senators, CONVERSATION analysis, LITERATURE, and VIDEOS

Using conversation analysis, this article examines how questioners manage resistant responses in the context of U.S. Senate hearings. In particular, we examine how questioning Senators use explicit metacommentary – a turn constructional practice in which speakers offer 'on-record' comments on the manner in which a prior turn was formulated – to manage a recipient's resistant responses to polar questions. Within these contexts, metacommentary becomes a resource for highlighting the preference organization of the original question and challenging the adequacy of the recipient's response. The analysis shows how metacommentary not only serves to guide a question recipient toward producing an adequate response, but additionally works to register the questioning Senator's stance toward the inadequacy of the response while highlighting this inadequacy for both the co-present audience and viewers of these publicly televised hearings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SOCIAL scientists, POLITICAL scientists, CIVIL service positions, CONGRESSIONAL hearings (U.S.), and RESEARCH institutes

Congressional hearings are a venue in which social scientists present their views and analyses before lawmakers in the United States, however quantitative data on their representation has been lacking. We present new, publicly available, data on the rates at which anthropologists, economists, political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists appeared before United States congressional hearings from 1946 through 2016. We show that social scientists were present at some 10,347 hearings and testified 15,506 times. Economists testify before the US Congress far more often than other social scientists, and constitute a larger proportion of the social scientists testifying in industry and government positions. We find that social scientists' testimony is increasingly on behalf of think tanks; political scientists, in particular, have gained much more representation through think tanks. Sociology, and psychology's representation before Congress has declined considerably beginning in the 1980s. Anthropologists were the least represented. These findings show that academics are representing a more diverse set of organizations, but economists continue to be far more represented than other disciplines before the US Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SOCIOCULTURAL factors, UNITED States presidential election, 2016, POLITICAL campaigns, and UNITED States politics & government, 2017-2021

Objectives: The political discourse surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election highlighted discontent with both Congress and corporations, a reality corroborated in recent scholarship highlighting declines in institutional confidence among U.S. citizens. Here we test theories of institutional confidence to understand the social and cultural determinants of confidence in Congress and corporations prior to the start of the 2016 presidential campaigns. Methods: We draw on data from the Religious Understandings of Science Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted in 2013–2014 (N = 9,416). Results: We find that political ideology largely explained confidence in corporations while social location (particularly racial‐ethnic identity and gender) strongly related to confidence in Congress. Seemingly opposing factors converged to predict trust in both institutions. Conclusions: Institutional confidence is shaped not only by social and cultural factors but also by the symbolic functions of institutions themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EMPLOYEE attitudes, GOVERNMENT agencies, APPOINTEES, HUMAN capital, EMPLOYEE attitude surveys, and JOB satisfaction

Attention to vacancies in appointee positions subject to U.S. Senate confirmation has grown dramatically. Research regarding appointee vacancies commonly assumes negative consequences—loss of political control, promotion of second‐rate subordinates, undermined teamwork—for public agencies though little empirical work exists to confirm such expectations. This study tests whether vacancies at the top of U.S. federal agencies influence job satisfaction and turnover intention among upper‐level employees. Using vacancy data and multiple waves of the Federal Human Capital Survey/Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, we find that upper‐level employees report marginally higher levels of satisfaction when vacancies occur. Further, these vacancies have a negative association with individual‐level intent to leave an agency for another job in the federal government, signaling a higher likelihood that institutional knowledge is maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ELECTIONS, PRACTICAL politics, UNITED States presidential election, 2020, and FUNDRAISING

During the last several elections, numerous high-profile candidates for the U.S. Senate have raised a majority of their campaign funds from donors who reside in a different state. These efforts have garnered substantial media coverage and have been fodder for attacks by the candidate's opponents. Despite the increased attention to the role of out-of-state donors, it is not clear if these cases are outliers or if this is now common practice in our more nationalized electoral environment. In this paper, we examine trends in Senate candidate's fundraising from out-of-state donors between 2000 and 2020. We find that there has been a general increase over time in Senate candidates' reliance on out-of-state donations. There is, however, variation in terms of who relies heavily upon the support of a more national donor base. A Senate candidate's share of out-of-state donations varies with factors like incumbency, electoral competition, and geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LEGISLATIVE voting, PARTISANSHIP, ELECTIONS, MODERN history, and UNITED States presidential elections

The election of a new Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress in January 2023 stretched on for several days and 15 roll call votes—the longest contested Speaker election in modern congressional history. This article proves a two-part analysis of this unusual event. First, it reviews the procedural practice of the House for its organization at the beginning of each Congress. Second, it analyzes the operational and strategic conduct of the election, with an eye not only on the individual Members-elect and party factions operating within it, but also on the role of the non-partisan House officers managing the proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PARTISANSHIP, ELECTIONS, POLARIZATION (Social sciences), INCUMBENCY (Public officers), and MOTIVATION (Psychology)

Objective: This article explores whether voters evaluate candidates' ideology, partisanship, and quality independently or exhibit behavior consistent with motivating reasoning, rating co‐partisans and candidates ideologically similar to themselves as more competent. Methods: Using a survey of voters and experts from 2010 U.S. House elections, I estimate a model predicting an individual's rating of incumbent candidate competence for office and challenger candidate competence for office. Results: Individuals ideologically distant from a candidate rate the candidate as less competent, yet rate co‐partisan candidates as more competent. For incumbents, opposing partisanship amplifies the negative effect of ideological distance on candidate quality ratings, and shared partisanship mitigates the negative effect of ideological distance. Conclusion: Only incumbents rated as the most competent can overcome the ideological and partisan biases of voters. Consistent with theories of affective polarization, these results imply that polarization runs deeper than partisan or ideological differences–it is personal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HISPANIC Americans, LEGISLATIVE voting, and COMMUNITIES

This article explores whether legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives talk about the issues important to Latinos on Twitter. Other work has emphasized the importance of descriptive representation for the substantive advancement of the interests of minority constituents. Building on that work, I argue that Latino legislators are more likely than their non-Latino peers to discuss issues important to the Latino community. In addition, given majoritarian constraints and work showing how minority legislators are marginalized in the legislative process, I argue that minority legislators – Latinos included – are more likely to post symbolic messages than their colleagues because they are not able to change the status quo and advance the interests of their co-ethnic/racial constituents. I explore these hypotheses using data collected from the Twitter profiles of members of the 115th U.S. House of Representatives. After accounting for other factors, I find that Latino legislators are more likely to post about immigration and Hurricane Maria during the 115th Congress. I also find that Latino legislators are more likely to post symbolic messages when communicating with the public. Both of these findings corroborate the notion of minority distinctiveness and add to our understanding of Latino representation, minority behavior, and legislative communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNITED States senators, SELF-defense, ARCHIVES, and INTERNATIONAL relations

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of former Arizona senator Dennis DeConcini during the Bosnian War. DeConcini, along with other congressional Bosnia hawks, supported the newly independent country in its self-defense during the 1992–1995 war. DeConcini's activism was mainly through the U.S. Helsinki Commission but he also undertook a number of steps with a view to legislative American foreign policy towards Bosnia in the early 1990s. Based on the congressional archive and DeConcini's papers at the University of Arizona, this article will piece together the story of how an Arizona senator became a champion of Bosnia on Capitol Hill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MODERATES (Political science), PARTISANSHIP, UNITED States legislators, DEMOCRATS (United States), and BIPARTISANSHIP

Passing out federal dollars to specific projects in particular districts had been a popular way for congressional leaders to build large bipartisan majorities for major bills since the very first meeting of Congress. By matching projects to districts, scholars have been able to systematically analyze which members were successful in getting their project funded. But for one year, though, the requests members submitted were never known. Using earmark requests data during the 111th Congress, we can know both the requests and the awards. Knowing the former changes our understanding of the latter. We find that the request process is largely driven by ideology, rather than electoral vulnerability. More moderate Republicans tended to seek more earmarks than their more conservative copartisans; some of whom completely opted out of the process. The effect was the opposite for Democrats, whose moderates requested fewer earmarks. When these requests are taken into consideration, the awarding process appears to be even less partisan than the raw data would suggest, confirming the bipartisan nature of the earmarking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VOTING research, CONSERVATISM, and RACISM

We examine the composition, background, and voting behavior of Republican members of Congress from the ex-Confederate states in the 1952–1980 period—a time during which Southern GOP membership in Congress began to increase steadily. We find that this new generation of Southern Republicans were often born in the South, came from the private sector—where they previously worked in business like much of the non-Southern wing of the Republican Party—and had few meaningful prior connections to the Democratic Party. In terms of voting behavior, Southern Republicans behaved similarly to non-Southern Republicans—generally voting with their party, and more conservatively on most issues than the Southern Democrats they replaced. However, we find that Southern Republicans and Democrats voted alike in one important way: against civil rights legislation. This latter finding of racial conservatism is consistent with other recent work arguing that the Southern GOP had to become a "White party" to win elections in the former Confederacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PATENT law, MAYO Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, and PATENTABILITY -- Lawsuits & claims

In this article, the author argues that the U.S. Congress should abolish the Supreme Court promulgated, non-statutory exceptions to 35 U.S.C. section 101 of the Patent Act. It mentions about the U.S. Supreme Court case Mayo Collaborative Sers. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc. in which the court held that claims directed to a method of giving a drug to a patient, measuring metabolites of that drug, deciding whether to increase or decrease the dosage of the drug, were not patent-eligible subject matter.

RACE, CAUCUS, LIBERTY, REFORMS, CHANGE theory, BALLOTS, and LEGISLATIVE voting

For the first time in one hundred years, the 118th Congress began with a prolonged Speaker's race that required fifteen ballots to elect a Speaker. The contentious Republican debate displayed a level of personal animosity between a faction – the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) – and the majority party's chosen leader – Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – but it also revealed a series of significant divisions within the majority party over policy, and legislative norms and practices. How do different strategies shape the capacity of factions to spur formal changes to legislative institutions? How do party leaders respond to the demands of factions that raise issues threatening to party unity and their own leadership position? In this article, I analyze the composition of defectors in the Speaker's race, the status of their rule and procedural reform agenda, and the response by McCarthy, including to committee assignments and early use of restrictive rules in the 118th Congress. I conclude with a discussion of the consequences of the HFC strategy for the contemporary U.S. House, and an emerging need to expand theories of institutional change to better integrate the behavior of both party leaders and factions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OLDER people, COHORT analysis, COMORBIDITY, OLDER patients, and LONGITUDINAL method

Background: Data about long-term prognosis after hospitalisation of elderly multimorbid patients remains scarce. Objectives: Evaluate medium and long-term prognosis in hospitalised patients older than 75 years of age with multimorbidity. Explore the impact of gender, age, frailty, physical dependence, and chronic diseases on mortality over a seven-year period. Methods: We included prospectively all patients hospitalised for medical reasons over 75 years of age with two or more chronic illnesses in a specialised ward. Data on chronic diseases were collected using the Charlson comorbidity index and a questionnaire for disorders not included in this index. Demographic characteristics, Clinical Frailty Scale, Barthel index, and complications during hospitalisation were collected. Results: 514 patients (46% males) with a mean age of 85 (± 5) years were included. The median follow-up was 755 days (interquartile range 25–75%: 76–1,342). Mortality ranged from 44% to 68%, 82% and 91% at one, three, five, and seven years. At inclusion, men were slightly younger and with lower levels of physical impairment. Nevertheless, in the multivariate analysis, men had higher mortality (p<0.001; H.R.:1.43; 95% C.I.95%:1.16–1.75). Age, Clinical Frailty Scale, Barthel, and Charlson indexes were significant predictors in the univariate and multivariate analysis (all p<0.001). Dementia and neoplastic diseases were statistically significant in the unadjusted but not the adjusted model. In a cluster analysis, three patterns of patients were identified, with increasing significant mortality differences between them (p<0.001; H.R.:1.67; 95% CI: 1.49–1.88). Conclusions: In our cohort, individual diseases had a limited predictive prognostic capacity, while the combination of chronic illness, frailty, and physical dependence were independent predictors of survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CAMPAIGN funds, VOTING laws, RIGHT-wing populism, and ECONOMIC globalization

Left-wing opposition to globalization lives, among voters and interest groups, both labor and progressive. But have left-wing opponents of trade successfully cultivated representation? Using the US Congress as a case, I show that two distinct groups of Democrats vote in characteristically progressive and protectionist ways on trade bills. These groups, especially progressives, are rewarded with excess campaign contributions from publicly anti-trade groups. A dyadic research design shows that interest group/representative relationships degrade noticeably when members of Congress vote for trade bills that interest groups have opposed. While recent events have highlighted business interests and right-wing economic populism, left-wing opposition to globalization remains a vibrant third face of contemporary domestic contestation over trade that will be especially important where populists fade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PARTISANSHIP, ABORTION, PRO-life movement, REPRODUCTIVE rights, GENDER, and WOMEN'S roles

I examine the partisan and gender dynamics that shape Congressional policymaking on abortion since the early 1990s. I demonstrate how the movement of abortion from an issue that split the parties to a litmus test that defines what it means to be a Democrat or Republican has impacted policymaking. I highlight the increasingly central role female lawmakers play in crafting policy and shaping party messaging. Throughout this period, Democratic women are the most aggressive proponents for abortion rights and have expanded their influence over the party's agenda. Meanwhile, Republican women were divided on the issue through the early 2000s and had limited influence on the party's decision making. Since the Tea Party wave of 2010 brought more pro-life women to office, Republican women are pivotal players and will influence the direction of party strategy and legislating in the Post-Roe environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ELECTRONIC markets, INTERNET marketing, ELECTIONS, FORECASTING, FRENCH presidential elections, and UNITED States Congressional elections

INTERPERSONAL relations and PSYCHOLOGY

Do interpersonal relationships among and between representatives and senators affect legislative collaboration in the contemporary Congress? The extant literature on Congress suggests interpersonal dimensions of life on Capitol Hill should play a minimal role in the legislative process. However, research in other fields, including psychology, finds that relationships are crucially important within organizations. In addition, many contemporary accounts of congressional deal‐making highlight the role of personal relationships. Drawing on interviews with high‐level congressional staff, and data on CODEL trips taken by members of Congress, we show that interpersonal relationships help promote collaboration across the aisle. These findings have implications for how we understand the contours of conflict and cooperation on Capitol Hill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ECONOMIC sanctions, PRESIDENTS, and INTERNATIONAL relations

This article explores whether party polarisation in the American Congress affects the length of legislated sanctions. While Congress can enact sanctions, it usually authorises the president to waive, suspend or terminate them. However, Congress can prevent the president from ending a sanction if both parties can cooperate to block the presidential proposal or pass a sanction bill challenging the presidential preference. Borrowing from moderate polarisation argument that both parties can cooperate only when they are moderately polarised, I argue that the probability of sanction termination declines if Congress is moderately polarised but increases when Congress is either least or extremely polarised. This is because only under moderately polarised Congress can both parties cooperate to stop the sanction termination. I test this argument using TIES data (1945–2005) and find support for this expectation. This research contributes to our knowledge on the role of congressional dynamics in shaping American foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

REPUTATION, WOMEN legislators, GENDER stereotypes, UNITED States senators, SOCIAL media, GOVERNMENT policy, and STEREOTYPES

Women running for Congress make different choices than men about how to connect with constituents on social media, but few studies investigate how these variable strategies shape in-office messaging, particularly those of U.S. senators. This article extends research on gendered congressional communication by looking at how women in the Senate build reputations on Twitter, specifically assessing whether they set themselves apart with the policy agendas they promote online. Senators take advantage of Twitter's low-cost and user-driven messaging to cultivate a reputation with their legislative expertise, and this research shows that women are curating a more comprehensive and broad agenda than gender stereotypes would otherwise suggest. Senators' legislative communication on Twitter shows that women on both sides of the aisle are expanding their policy agenda to reach beyond "female issues." Women are often stereotyped as less policy-oriented and only capable in gender-specific policy areas, but women in the Senate are actively communicating about contested policy issues and articulating diverse agendas. By adopting a comprehensive policy agenda for their public image, women in the Senate are both meeting and defying expectations about the policy topics they are willing and ready to act on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ELECTION forecasting, GERRYMANDERING, PARTISANSHIP, POPULAR vote, POLITICAL science, UNITED States presidential election, 2020, and PRESIDENTIAL elections

VOTER turnout, PARTISANSHIP, ELECTIONS, and GERRYMANDERING

Objective: Partisan bias occurs when votes are distributed across districts in such a way that even if the vote between two parties were equal, one party would win more seats than the other. Gerrymandering is a well‐established cause of partisan bias, but it is not the only one. In this article, we ask whether the decline of voter turnout can also influence partisan bias. Methods: We modified the Gelman–King partisan symmetry measure to make it sensitive to turnout differences across U.S. House elections from 1972 to 2018. Results: We found that turnout variation has caused partisan bias in U.S. House elections in the Democratic Party's favor since at least 1972, though turnout bias has gotten weaker in recent elections. Conclusion: While turnout bias can buffer the impact of turnout reductions, it has the potential to dramatically increase the number of seats a party loses when its supporters fail to vote. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HISTORY, RACE discrimination, and INVESTIGATIONS

This article discusses the history of the Metropolitan Music School and how it became a target of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in the 1950s due to its perceived progressive values and commitment to racial inclusion. The article highlights how investigations into the school's leadership, including its president emeritus, Wallingford Riegger, and founder Lilly Popper, were part of HUAC's broader campaign to root out perceived subversive activity in the United States.

PRESIDENTIAL administrations, WAR powers, CONSTITUTIONAL law, and AGGRESSION (International law)

The article discusses the concerning trend of successive presidential administrations extending claims of using force abroad without congressional authorization, undermining the original understanding of the Executive's role in making war. It emphasizes the importance of Congress as a deliberative body to act as a gatekeeper for any use of force and the need to uphold structural constraints on constitutional powers, especially concerning war powers.