Should lawmakers be allowed to draw electoral districts to protect their party from competition? Can the courts rule legislative and congressional maps unconstitutional on the basis of partisan and political discrimination?

Those are among the questions the Supreme Court is considering in the case Gill v. Whitford.

Where do we even begin after Las Vegas? The shooting was so calculatingly evil, so tragic for the victims, and so sad for our nation. And yet we have been here before: after Sandy Hook, after the Orlando night club shooting, after Louisiana GOP Rep. Steve Scalise was shot in the capital this summer.

Our reaction is always shock and sorrow – followed almost immediately by the same predictable partisan debate on guns. I fervently believe that electing more centrist independents can help break through this paralyzing tribalism.

The voters of Santa Fe, New Mexico, passed a ballot measure in 2008 saying the city should use ranked choice voting in city elections. The city still hasn’t implemented it.

The supporters of ranked choice voting sued the city in the State Supreme Court last month, but that court refused to hear the case.

On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court heard arguments for Gill v. Whitford, a constitutional challenge to Wisconsin’s state legislative districts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qMfoYsZcc

On Monday, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took to Twitter to tell his 1.5 million followers that he's not happy with the tax reform plan published last week by the Trump Administration in partnership with congressional GOP leaders.

It is tragic that it has taken a mass murder of historic proportion to remind us that the vast, vast majority of people are fundamentally good.

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, we have witnessed and learned of countless acts of heroism, courage, kindness and generosity. Strangers helping strangers, even at the risk of their own lives. Thousands standing in line for hours to give blood. Funds for the victims and their families being established and receiving millions in donations virtually overnight.

Arguably, academia is as guilty as the media, the politicians, and the two major parties themselves, of promoting partisanship.

This is, in large part, because political scientists analyze elections as a contest between Democrats and Republicans. Polls are designed and analyzed to explain or forecast red or blue victories. And even voting rights are scrutinized based on which of two political teams is advantaged or disadvantaged by a given law.

The statement "all politicians are corrupt" has as much truth to it as "all Muslims are terrorists" and "all Christians are ignorant bigots."

But here’s the trap in American politics: there’s one political party that makes nearly no attempt to disguise its duplicity. Many of them lie so badly and so often most of us are numb to it. The other political party does only a slightly better job representing the people.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Tuesday that he is actively considering running for president.

"Based off what is happening in the White House, based on what is happening in the country and the world, I think we need better leadership," Cuban said. "I think I could do a better job."

Right now, Cuban says though he is thinking about it, the odds are slim he will launch a presidential campaign, joking that his wife would divorce him.

Still, he added, "Who knows what happens in the next 3 plus years, right?"

In a news conference at City Hall, District 6 City Councilmember Chris Cate admitted he was the one who leaked a confidential city memo analyzing the city's position on the Soccer City project in Mission Valley.