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Trump’s Long-Awaited Day in Court
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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
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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
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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, 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
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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
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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 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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