The Roberts Court, which began in 2005 and has been altered by two replacements — Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010 — has been asked to clarify the precise nature of the church-state relationship on several matters.

One topic the court addressed is whether religious symbols may be displayed on public property:

In late May, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered a review of the military health care system in light of the ever growing health care scandal at the VA. While the review is still ongoing, early findings, as well as an independent review conducted by the New York Times, show the alarmingly poor state of military medicine.

1. California No Party Preference candidate Dan Schnur published an op-ed in the Philadelphia Daily News about the growing independent voting bloc and the future of politics.

"Independent voters are not necessarily centrist. In fact, numerous studies have shown that most independents do not significantly differ in their policy positions from more traditional partisans.

Update notice: This article has been updated from the original published post to include quotes from Maurice Henderson, the campaign manager for Yes on Oregon Open Primary.

 

Voters in Oregon will have an opportunity to reform elections in the state to give all voters, regardless of party affiliation, a meaningful and equal voice in all integral stages of the election process. Initiative Petition 55, also known as the "Open Primary Initiative," officially qualified for the ballot on Tuesday, July 15.

One of Americans’ favorite topics to gripe about is the woeful state of American journalism. However, the angles of attack are as varied as people’s political opinions.

For some, the majority of journalists seem to have a liberal bias. For others, the rise of corporate journalism has led to malpractice and power worship among reporters and journalists.

1. More than 1 in 5 Americans say replacing every member of Congress and starting fresh is the best way to fix Congress.

"One in seven (14%) say bipartisan cooperation is the ticket to fixing Congress.