It’s Unlikely To Be the Last and It’s Certainly Not the Least: Trump Is Indicted for a Third Time 

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. indicted Trump on four counts relating to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

“[F]or more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant [Donald Trump] spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false,” the indictment reads.

According to the unsealed indictment, Trump is charged with:

1. Conspiracy to defraud the United States;

2. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding;

3. Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and

4. Conspiracy against the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.

“Shortly after election day, [Trump] also pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results,” the indictment continues. The 45-page unsealed indictment also points to Trump’s conduct — including false statements — that interfered with “others’ right to vote and have their votes counted” in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump and his allies filed over 60 post-election lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 election in states across the country, including in key battleground states like Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They lost all but one of the lawsuits, including a case at the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to invalidate election results in multiple states.

After two impeachments, three indictments (and a fourth looming) and one premeditated violent insurrection later, Trump is still the likely presidential nominee for the Republican Party, which poses worries about our nation’s democratic health.  

Master Juggler John Eastman Files a Lawsuit in Colorado Between Disbarment Proceedings and Trump Indictment

Trump’s most recent indictment includes six unnamed co-conspirators, who were “enlisted…to assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power.” 

Based on the details provided in the indictment, the co-conspirators are presumed to be: (1) Rudy Giuliani, (2) John Eastman, (3) Sidney Powell, (4) Jeffrey Clark, (5) Kenneth Chesebro and (6) Boris Epshteyn. It is speculated that separate indictments for the co-conspirators will be returned in the coming days.

Five of the co-conspirators, known to be attorneys, were critical players in the plot to overturn the 2020 election results. Critically, as Marc writes, they leveraged their knowledge of law to peddle election lies and file baseless lawsuits. 

• One of the alleged co-conspirators, John Eastman, is determined to stay busy before he returns to his disbarment proceedings in a Los Angeles courtroom later this month. Earlier this week, Eastman filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Colorado Republican Party to ban unaffiliated voters from the 2024 Republican primary in Colorado. The state holds open primaries and 47% of Colorado voters are not registered with a party.

Objection, Your Honor: “Alabama Is in Open Defiance of the Federal Courts.”

As expected, the plaintiffs in Allen v. Milligan filed objections to Alabama's new congressional districts, arguing that the state is in "open defiance" of court orders and that the map "perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation" that a lower court previously found and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed. 

At the end of July, Republican lawmakers in Alabama passed a new congressional map following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Allen which upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and affirmed that the state needed a map with two majority-Black districts. However, in direct defiance of federal courts, the new map passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature has only one majority-Black district.

Later this month, there will be a hearing for the entire week of Aug. 14 on whether the state's new congressional map complies with a federal court order that required the state to draw a new map with two majority-Black districts. A federal judge has selected the plaintiffs' proposed cartographer to assist in litigation over Alabama's congressional map "should they become necessary to assist the Court in the event the Court determined it had to prepare a new map." Stay up to date on the lawsuit here. 

It Takes a Pro To Say Witz: A New Liberal Supreme Court Justice in Wisconsin Could Mean Good Things for Democracy   

This week marked the start of Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s decade-long term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It is the first time since 2008 that liberal justices have held the majority.  

The Wisconsin Supreme Court decided monumental and nationally consequential lawsuits in 2020 and it’s fair to guess that there will be major election litigation in the state again in 2024. For the first time in 15 years, a liberal majority holds the court which could mean true progress for democracy in and out of the state. 

There are two lawsuits we are keeping an eye on: 

• Ban on drop boxes: In July of 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision that banned drop boxes in a major blow to voters. However, last month, a lawsuit was filed in a trial court in Dane County that challenges the drop box ban and more. It may reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court ahead of next year’s presidential election.

• Partisan gerrymandering: Wisconsin is known for having some of the most gerrymandered state legislative maps in the country. A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday that challenges the state’s legislative maps and the Republicans’ outsized majority. It bypassed the lower courts and was filed directly in the state Supreme Court.

While we cannot be certain that these cases will be decided by the state’s high court, no matter how the new justice rules, we should be optimistic about the progress of democracy in the state. As Protasiewicz said to Democracy Docket this spring, “Our democracy is one of our closely held ideals and that needs to be valued.”

• Additionally, in the 2020 post-election period, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate thousands of votes cast in the Madison and Milwaukee areas, both Democratic strongholds. The presidential results were upheld by just one vote on the then-conservative court. If similar attempts are made by Trump next year, the new pro-democracy majority could be critical.  

Retreat! Republicans Withdraw Appeals in Pennsylvania and Arizona

In a major win for accessibility at the ballot box, Pennsylvania Republicans withdrew their appeal of a decision that upheld Act 77, a state law that established no-excuse mail-in voting. The Republicans' challenge to the law is over and Act 77 will remain in place. 

This is the second time Republicans have failed to end no-excuse mail-in voting. The same plaintiffs had already tried to eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting in the state in McLinko v. Degraffenreid, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law. Trump had encouraged Republicans to target the law ahead of the midterms last year. 

Across the country and in another loss for those seeking to undermine democracy, election denier and Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem (R) voluntarily dismissed his election contest that challenged his loss to now-Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) in the November 2022 election. An Arizona court originally dismissed his contest in December.

Don’t Put Miami in the Redistricting Violations Corner

In Florida, the city of Miami appealed a ruling that its new city commission map was still racially gerrymandered. The 11th Circuit paused the adoption of a new city commission map as litigation continues. The city argues that there is not enough time to implement a new map before the November municipal elections.

This pause comes after a federal court blocked the new city commission map, ruling that the districts are still racially gerrymandered. Miami was ordered to redraw the map in May after it was initially struck down for violating the 14th Amendment.

More News

• Failed Michigan attorney general candidate Matthew DePerno (R) and others face criminal charges for illegally accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election. DePerno was one of nine individuals who allegedly misrepresented themselves to persuade election clerks to give them access to voting machines.

• Republicans filed a lawsuit asking the Ohio Supreme Court to block a pro-choice abortion amendment from appearing on the ballot in November.

From Marc: Trump, Five Lawyers and Their Conspiracy Against Our Democracy

By Marc Elias, a nationally recognized authority in voting rights, redistricting and law. In 2020, Marc led the historic legal effort to protect voting rights, winning over 60 lawsuits against the GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote, and continues to fight in court. Read more ➡️

Ahead of the Tuesday special election in Ohio, Republicans have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to keep the reproductive and abortion rights amendment off of the November ballot altogether. 

Last week, the amendment was certified for the ballot after organizers gathered 495,938 valid signatures from 55 counties. They needed around 414,000 from 44 counties. 

If you are a voter in Ohio and you vote early, you can find your polling location here ahead of Aug. 8. If you aren’t in Ohio, you can join a virtual get-out-the-vote phonebank here.

It’s summer break for our podcast, Defending Democracy! So, there won’t be a new episode until after Labor Day. But, it’s the perfect time to catch up on everything that has been covered so far this year. Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.