Yesterday was a great day for democracy: a federal appeals court delivered a major blow to the efforts of politicians in Florida who want to roll back 2018’s Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to 1.4 million Floridians who had been disenfranchised because of previous felony convictions. At issue is a law requiring anyone covered by Amendment 4 to pay all of their court fees and fines in order to actually get their right to vote back. Now two federal courts have found that it’s unconstitutional to make wealth a barrier to the ballot. Read more about Amendment 4 and the fight for voting rights in Florida.

Across the country, state supreme courts fall short when it comes to representing the people that they serve. New research from the Brennan Center shows vast racial, ethnic, and gender disparities on state high courts. The numbers are staggering: 23 states have an all-white state supreme court bench, including 10 states where people of color are at least 20 percent of the population. Fifteen states currently have one or fewer female justices on their high courts.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, political diversity is under attack: The state legislature is considering a bill that would open the door for judicial district gerrymandering. The bill’s timing suggests it’s a thinly veiled attempt by the Republican-controlled legislature to eliminate the Democratic majority on the state supreme court.

There are important lessons to learn about election administration from the Iowa caucus, including that jurisdictions should not roll out untested technology on the day of a major election, it’s also important that we remain on guard against false claims of voter fraud and efforts to undermine election results for political advantage.

Last spring, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, along with legislative leaders, established a commission to reform campaign finance laws. In December, the commissioners produced a solid small-donor public financing plan designed to counteract the wealthiest donors’ power in Albany. But the governor’s new budget omits funding for the program, and as is, the program’s plan contains unnecessary restrictions that are attracting lawsuits. Read more about why and how the governor should rescue public financing.

President Trump has broadened his prejudiced plan to block immigration from six more countries. More than half a billion people are now barred from seeking permanent residency in the United States. Read about the truth behind the ban, and the president’s overreach.

In 2018, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to create an independent commission to draw the state’s congressional and legislative maps. This was a huge step for a state with a history of aggressive gerrymandering, but now, the Michigan Republican Party has asked a federal court to declare the new commission’s rules unconstitutional. Learn more about the fight against gerrymandering in Michigan.

Attorney General William Barr is against lighter prison sentences — except for Trump’s friend Roger Stone. Barr’s interference in the case, over the objections of Department of Justice prosecutors who quit the case in protest, apparently came at the behest of President Trump. Read more about criminal justice reform — which shouldn’t just be for those with proximity to wealth and power.

TAKE ACTION: Sign the petition to pass NYC’s POST Act, which addresses the long-unmet need for civilian oversight of NYPD surveillance technology.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has empowered moneyed interests to wield disproportionate influence in elections, gutted the Voting Rights Act, and upheld President Trump’s travel ban. These decisions fit a troubling, decades-long pattern, argues journalist Adam Cohen. His new survey of high court rulings, Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, finds that since the Nixon era, the Court has done little to protect the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. RSVP today!