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The vacancy warning level for the U.S. Federal courts is currently set at Blue. There were two new confirmations this past week, leaving the final tally at 82 vacancies or approximately 9.6% of the total Article III posts currently unfilled. The vacancy information for the various court levels is as follows:

There are currently 9 Supreme Court posts, 179 appellate court posts and 680 district court posts …

This edition of The Executive Summary features a breakdown of the current partisan count and takes a look at recent action involving an office that normally sees little news coverage – the state auditor.

Partisan count

Ballotpedia currently covers 13 major state executive official positions across the country, totaling 729 officials. As of today, May 16, Republicans hold 214 (29%) of those seats, Democrats hold 128 (17.5%), 1 (0.13%) is an Independent, and 385 (52.9%) are officially non-partisan.

Looking at just the 344 seats that are partisan affiliated, Republicans control 57.6 percent, Democrats 40.1 percent, and Independents hold …

A man on death row, a disgruntled teacher, and a woman seeking to adopt her grandchild get second chances

Featured Case: California Supreme Court allows cities to ban marijuana dispensaries

On May 6, 2013, the California Supreme Court ruled cities and towns can continue to enact local bans concerning the distribution of marijuana. The case before the court involved the marijuana dispensary, Inland Empire Patient’s Health and Wellness Center, which sued the California city of Riverside for shutting down their business. The Wellness Center argued that the city had violated California law which ensures “access to marijuana for the …

This week’s tracker takes a look at more controversy in the New York State Legislature and some interesting legislation.

Last week, Missouri and Vermont ended their legislative sessions. Here is a brief look at issues making headlines across the country:

• Illinois: A bill lowering the voting age in primaries to 17 years old was approved 43-9 by the Illinois State Senate. This bill sponsored by Senator Terry Link (D) would still require voters to be 18 years old by general elections. A similar bill passed the House in April and Governor Pat Quinn supports the legislation.^[1]
• Louisiana

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Since the beginning of the year, we have tracked 167 proposed laws in 35 states affecting the initiative and referendum process. Please note that some of these are constitutional amendments requiring voter approval before going into effect. The Ballot Law Update is released on the last Wednesday of each month. Stay tuned to the Tuesday Count for weekly ballot law news.

North Dakota Senator looks to restrict costly initiatives, pointing to California as an example of what not to do: In a 28-19 vote, the North Dakota State Senate rubber-stamped an amendment that would require 40% state legislature approval of …

This week, there are five new certifications to report: two for 2013, two for 2014 and one for 2016. In Colorado, the legislature approved HB 1318. As a result of this bill’s passage, two legislatively-referred state statutes will appear on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2013. One, the Colorado Marijuana Excise Tax, would implement at 15% excise tax on all marijuana sales within the state, if voters choose to approve the measure in November. The revenue from this excise tax would be put toward school construction projects. The other, the Colorado Marijuana …