What Marc is watching on the docket.

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As we approach the somber three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, the day’s impact continues to reverberate through the court system. Challenges to former President Donald Trump’s presidential eligibility, which rest in part on Jan. 6, saw key developments in Colorado and Maine.

Beyond the disgraced former president were major redistricting rulings in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, while Marc previewed the year ahead by outlining the numerous democracy-related cases pending on the docket.

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Redistricting Roundup: Where Do Things Stand Heading into 2024?

Though the New Year is already here, we can’t fully move onto 2024 just yet. Legislative and congressional maps across the country were in the news while we were on break, so we’re catching you up on what happened over the last two weeks.

Michigan

A federal three-judge panel ** struck down ([link removed])
13 Michigan House and Senate districts for being unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. The panel agreed with Black voters who filed a lawsuit arguing that the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission used race as the predominant factor in drawing legislative districts to intentionally limit Black makeup in certain House and Senate districts without a justified interest, a violation of the 14th Amendment.

The panel of judges ** found ([link removed])
that the “record here shows overwhelmingly—indeed, inescapably—that the Commission drew the boundaries of plaintiffs’ districts predominantly on the basis of race” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s legislative maps, which have been the subject of intense anticipation and speculation, faced a similar fate just a day later. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision ** made possible ([link removed])
by the newly liberal court, ** ruled ([link removed])
that the maps violated the Wisconsin Constitution and must be redrawn in time for the 2024 elections.

The decision stems from a ** lawsuit ([link removed])
filed by voters last August that argued the state’s legislative districts violated multiple provisions of Wisconsin’s constitution, along with the constitutional requirement that districts be contiguous. The lawsuit also argued that the districts violated the state’s separation of powers rule.

Ultimately, Wisconsin's highest court found that the legislative districts were not contiguous (not touching) and therefore violated the Wisconsin Constitution, ruling that “at least 50 assembly districts and at least 20 senate districts include separate, detached parts,” a majority of the Legislature. The Wisconsin Legislature was ordered by the court to adopt remedial maps, but if it fails to do so the court will take over.
** ([link removed])

** Federal Judge Upholds Georgia's Republican-Approved Remedial Maps ([link removed])

By Devon Hesano

Georgia

Meanwhile, in Georgia, a federal judge ** upheld ([link removed])
the state’s Republican-passed legislative and congressional maps — a major defeat for voters in the Peach State. Judge Steve Jones ** ruled ([link removed])
that Georgia Republicans “fully complied with this Court’s order requiring the creation of Black-majority districts” and a majority-Black ** congressional district ([link removed])
“in the regions of the State where vote dilution was found.”

Georgia legislators were forced to redraw the state’s maps in October after they were found to have diluted the voting strength of Black voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Though the new maps added the additional majority-Black districts as ordered, the plaintiffs in the cases that led to the maps being redrawn as well as prominent state Democrats had ** argued ([link removed])
that the maps were non-compliant since a minority-opportunity district was dismantled in the process.

Jones rejected objections to all three maps, disagreeing with the plaintiffs’ assertion that the state was confined to making changes only in the districts found to be in the “vote dilution area.” Jones further pushed back on arguments that the congressional map violated a court order not to remove minority-opportunity districts, holding that the districts “could not refer to any potential coalition district.”

Coalition districts are districts where multiple racial minorities combine to make up a majority of the population and work together to elect minority-preferred candidates.

New York

The New York Independent Redistricting Commission has begun the process of redrawing the state’s congressional map before the 2024 elections, after being ** ordered ([link removed])
to do so by New York’s highest court. The commission ** met ([link removed])
on Dec. 28 to deal with administrative matters, and will continue to hold additional meetings in the coming weeks in order to meet its Feb. 28 deadline to submit a new map to the Legislature.

On or Off the Ballot? Courts Weigh in on Trump’s Eligibility

As the 2024 presidential election kicks into full gear, 14th Amendment challenges against Trump have gained traction in recent weeks. Maine became the second state to ** disqualify ([link removed])
the former president from the primary ballot, this time by way of a decision from the state’s Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows.

In her stunning decision, Bellows ** penned ([link removed])
that she did “not reach this conclusion lightly.” “Democracy is sacred … I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection,” she continued.

Bellows described Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election as an assault on the foundations of U.S. government, and dismissed arguments that Trump’s speech leading up to and on Jan. 6, which she said incited an insurrection, were protected by the First Amendment. She also swatted away a contention from Trump’s legal team that the 14th Amendment doesn't apply to the presidency.

Trump ** appealed ([link removed])
the decision, which is paused pending appeal, to the Kennebec Court Superior Court on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Trump also ** appealed ([link removed])
the Colorado Supreme Court decision that removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking if the Colorado high court erred in its decision.

The Colorado Republican party previously** appealed ([link removed])
the decision last week, asking the Court for clarity on whether Section 3 applies to the president, whether Section 3 allows states to remove a candidate without any congressional action and whether removal of a candidate from a presidential primary ballot violates a political party’s First Amendment right of association.

Trump faces similar challenges to his eligibility in 18 lawsuits across the country. While Colorado and Maine chose to remove the former president from the ballot, courts in Michigan and Minnesota have ruled that Trump is eligible to appear on each state’s primary ballot.

The Major Cases We’re Still Waiting On in 2024

Two big decisions we were waiting for were released this week. In Wisconsin, a trial court ** issued ([link removed])
a major victory for voters by clarifying witness address requirements in the state — a ruling that could prevent thousands of ballots from being unfairly rejected due to immaterial deficiencies. In Georgia, a federal judge ** ruled ([link removed])
that the right-wing group True the Vote’s effort to cancel over 360,000 voter registrations did not intimidate voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

On Wednesday, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias ** previewed ([link removed])
some of the other key outstanding court decisions for those who care about democracy and voting rights. Not a day goes by that a court in some part of the country isn’t considering and deciding what the rules will be for the 2024 elections. And while some cases may not garner the limelight that lawsuits involving gerrymandering or Donald Trump enjoy, the more technical cases can still have an outsized impact on voters.

Following ** two ([link removed])
** landmark ([link removed])
voting cases last year, the U.S. Supreme Court so far is hearing just one this year. The Court is due to rule on a racial gerrymandering ** lawsuit ([link removed])
out of South Carolina, where the South Carolina NAACP and a voter argue the state’s congressional map illegally moved more than 30,000 Black voters out of Republican Rep. Nancy Mace’s district.
** ([link removed])

** W ([link removed])
** hat I'm Watching on the Docket ([link removed])

By Marc Elias

Though the nation’s highest court is seldom outshined in the legal world, four historic ** indictments ([link removed])
— including two relating to efforts to overturn election results — against Donald Trump are doing just that. The former president also faces a multitude of challenges to his presidential eligibility under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

A flurry of lawsuits in ** Pennsylvania ([link removed])
and ** Wisconsin ([link removed])
challenge various mail-in voting policies. Onerous witness requirements and attacks on mobile voting sites are centers of attention in Wisconsin, while voters in Pennsylvania are fighting “seemingly absurd” and restrictive policies, such as not counting so-called “undated” or “wrongly dated” mail-in ballots.

Lawsuits are also challenging dangerous laws in states like ** Arizona ([link removed])
and ** Montana ([link removed])
that have paved a pathway for a growing trend of concerning Republican election vigilantism. The mischievous practices, like organized ** stakeouts ([link removed])
at drop boxes, as well as voter suppression laws like Georgia’s Senate Bill 202, have enabled ** voter challenges ([link removed])
and intimidation.

Marc is also keeping his eye on obscure provisions of the Voting Rights Act being used — sometimes for the first time ever — in 2024. If successful, they will expand mail-in voting, strike down witness requirements and more. ** Four cases ([link removed])
have been filed with more almost certainly on the way soon.

From Marc: Three Years After Jan. 6 Trump is Even More Dangerous
** ([link removed])

It has been three years since then-President Donald Trump incited a violent mob to storm the U.S. Capitol. In the dark days that followed Jan. 6, 2021, there was a glimmer of hope that the worst might be behind us. We now know, the darkness has persisted and the worst may lie ahead. By Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket. ** Read more ([link removed])
➡️

What We’re Doing

We are keeping an eye on state legislatures across the country as dozens of states begin their legislative seasons in the next two weeks. We expect a flurry of bills to be introduced on voting rights, election administration, elections and more.

This morning we released a previously-recorded interview with Alliance for Justice President Rakim Brooks on YouTube in newly available video form. Watch it ** here ([link removed])
and subscribe to our channel ** here ([link removed])
— we are trying to hit 100,000 subscribers!
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