Recapping three tumultuous months. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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American democracy didn’t get a relaxing summer vacation this year. The Supreme Court rounded out another term of nation-shaking decisions on voting rights, affirmative action, and more. State courts around the country grappled with a wave of reproductive rights cases and challenges to gerrymandered legislative maps. Ohio voters rejected a move to amend their constitution to limit ballot initiatives. Oh, and — I almost forgot to mention this — a former president was indicted three times.

Among all that, the Brennan Center proposed major reforms for our democracy. We laid out the case for Supreme Court term limits and endorsed a new version of the Freedom to Vote Act, which would expand early and mail voting, improve ballot access for voters with disabilities, modernize voter registration, and combat election denial.

Rather than highlighting new content this week, we’re using The Briefing to catch you up on one of the most eventful summers in memory.

We’ll be back in touch after Labor Day.





Trump’s Long-Awaited Day in Court

The biggest news of the summer was the indictment of Donald Trump in federal and Georgia state courts for his attempts to undo his 2020 election loss. From spreading voter fraud lies to breaching election infrastructure to pressuring officials to change results, his actions have had a lasting impact on our democracy. Holding him accountable is necessary, but it’s not enough in the face of the still-active election denial movement he inspired. “Leaders at all levels of government must not only stand up for the integrity of our election system, but also invest in safeguards to protect the people who run it and our democracy as a whole,” Derek Tisler and Lawrence Norden write. Read more

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Election Denial Takes Another Hit

The indictments of the former president are the latest in a series of emphatic rejections of his efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Judges, journalists, and voters have all dismissed Trump’s conspiracy theories, confirming that there is no evidence of widespread fraud. “Election denial has been proven false so many times that another debunking is unremarkable — this one, however, is historic in that it comes with charges against a former president,” Ian Vandewalker writes. Read more

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An Unexpected Win for Civil Rights

Toward the end of its latest term, the Supreme Court delivered two welcome victories for voting rights and elections. Though the Roberts Court has spent the past decade weakening the Voting Rights Act, in Allen v. Milligan, the justices upheld the law’s crucial protection for equal representation and ordered Alabama to fix its racially discriminatory congressional district map. The state’s lawmakers have since flouted the order

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, but the Court’s ruling still presents “the promise of improved political representation for communities in the Deep South, where the need for federal protection is most pronounced,” Kareem Crayton writes. Read more

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One Less Threat to Our Elections

The second major voting rights victory this June was the Supreme Court’s firm rejection of the “independent state legislature theory” — a radical misreading of the Constitution that could have upended our elections. In Moore v. Harper, North Carolina state legislators sought to gain near-absolute control over federal elections and prevent state courts from reining in abuses of legislative power. Fortunately, common sense prevailed, and our long-standing system of checks and balances still stands. But the case shouldn’t have come before the high court in the first place. The near miss “reflects how much the Court has been open to radically rewriting the law — as it did to reproductive rights and gun safety — in voting rights,” Wendy Weiser writes. Read more

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It’s Time for Term Limits

Voting rights reprieves aside, public opinion of the Supreme Court remains low in the wake of the justices’ financial scandals and the conservative supermajority’s damaging rulings on affirmative action, abortion, and guns. A recent Brennan Center report

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proposes a popular solution for restoring balance and accountability to the high court: 18-year term limits and regularized appointments to the bench. These changes “would be a transformative step to solidify the link between the Court and the will of the people,” Alicia Bannon writes. Read more

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Inside Supreme Court Disclosure Laws

The string of revelations about the justices’ lavish gifts from right-wing billionaires has prompted close scrutiny from the public and lawmakers of the financial disclosure rules that apply to the high court. Our new explainer reviews the history of these reporting requirements, the significant loophole the justices can exploit, and the proposals to strengthen existing regulations. READ MORE

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Protecting the Freedom to Vote

Amid efforts by election deniers and partisan lawmakers to interfere with elections and undermine voting rights, the Freedom to Vote Act reintroduced by Congress last month would help meet some of the greatest challenges facing American democracy. This critical pro-voter legislation would set baseline national standards to preserve voting access, protect election officials and workers, prohibit partisan gerrymandering, and address dark money in politics. Passing this bill demands perseverance from Congress, as “it is not just the right thing to do, but also what the American people want,” Andrew Garber and Daniel Weiner write. Read more

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Fighting for Fair Maps in State Courts

After the Supreme Court put partisan gerrymandering claims beyond the reach of federal courts in 2019, voters have increasingly turned to state courts and constitutions to challenge gerrymandered maps. So far this redistricting cycle, such claims have been filed in 17 states, with at least 6 pending a final ruling. The outcome of these cases will determine “which voters will have recourse against partisan abuses in redistricting and whether anti-gerrymandering becomes the dominant rule under state constitutions,” Yurij Rudensky writes in State Court Report. Read more

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How States Amend Their Constitutions

State constitutions are far easier to change than their federal counterpart, and the current constitutions of the 50 states have been amended a staggering 7,000 times. In State Court Report, Wake Forest University’s John Dinan explains the various ways that state constitutions can be amended and offers an overview of the most common processes followed by states. READ MORE

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Coming Up

VIRTUAL EVENT: Abortion Rights and the Future of State Constitutions

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Tuesday, September 19, 6–7 p.m. ET



Join us for a live virtual panel exploring the aftermath of Dobbs and its implications for state courts and constitutions. Panelists include Cheri Beasley, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court; David Cohen, a reproductive rights scholar at Drexel University; and Alicia Bannon, director of the Brennan Center Judiciary Program and editor in chief of State Court Report. Emily Bazelon of the New York Times Magazine and Yale Law School will guide a conversation on the role of state courts in adjudicating reproductive rights cases, as well as the future of state constitutionalism. RSVP today

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Produced in partnership with the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center

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News

Kareem Crayton on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington // THE HILL

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Sean Morales-Doyle on the racial implications of Trump’s voter fraud lies // TIME

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Lawrence Norden on proposals to curb election security agency CISA // ABC NEWS

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Derek Tisler on the need for reliable election funding // SPECTRUM NEWS

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