7/5/2024

Happy Fourth! This week, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt another blow to democracy with its presidential immunity ruling, some Georgia voters believe widespread fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential race, and a Trump-appointed federal appeals court panel blocked a ruling that would ease the voter registration process for some Tennesseans with prior felony convictions.

SCOTUS rules Trump has some immunity for ‘official acts’

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in former President Donald Trump’s immunity case with implications so dire that dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she fears for the future of America’s democracy.

The majority-conservative court ruled 6-3 Monday that while presidents don't have immunity from prosecution for unofficial acts, they are entitled to at least presumptive immunity for official acts, and absolute immunity “with respect to the president’s exercise of his core constitutional powers.”

Moving forward, federal prosecutors will likely have to further demonstrate how immunity doesn’t cover certain allegations against Trump. The former president, for example, is accused of pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to block certification of Joe Biden’s win, which the Court says involves official conduct. The Court remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court to assess some of the claims.

Sotomayor, who dissented along with fellow liberal Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, made national headlines with her chilling dissent.

The opinion caps yet another controversial term for the nation’s highest court, which issued rulings that critics say undermined democracy at every turn, from its decision in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP that essentially made it harder for voters to challenge racially discriminatory maps, to the Court’s more recent ruling in Fischer v. United States that severely weakened a federal law that criminalizes obstructing an official proceeding.

"This case is not actually about law at all,” Madiba Dennie, an attorney and author of “The Originalism Trap,” said Monday at a Georgetown Law panel about the Supreme Court, where lawyers and legal observers alike expressed dismay at the ruling. “It’s about power, it’s about politics, it’s about the Court’s support for the Republican candidate." Learn more about the decision and Trump’s immunity argument.

Poll: Almost half of Georgia voters believe widespread fraud occurred in 2020

Nearly half of voters in the critical swing state of Georgia believe there was widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) poll, and a significant portion aren’t confident that 2024’s race will be fair and accurate.

The poll surveyed 1,000 likely general election voters from June 11-20. The questions ranged from President Biden’s job performance to the state of the economy. When asked about how confident they were that the 2024 presidential election will be conducted fairly and accurately, roughly 57% of Georgia voters reported they are very or somewhat confident.

Broken down by political affiliation, nearly 76% of Republican voters believe there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, while roughly 19% of Democrats believe fraud occurred.

The contrast appears to reflect Georgia’s political reality. According to States United Democracy, a nonpartisan election advocacy group, there are nine election deniers (all Republicans) running to represent Georgia in Congress in November. The nonprofit defines an Election Denier as essentially someone who spreads or endorses the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be bracing themselves for a close race. And a sweeping criminal indictment is still pending against Trump and his allies in connection with a scheme to subvert Georgia’s election results in 2020. Read more about the poll’s findings here.

Trump-appointed panel blocks voting restoration decision

Months after a federal judge determined Tennessee officials can’t disenfranchise individuals with past felony convictions by improperly rejecting their voter registration forms, a court panel of Trump-appointed judges put the decision on hold.

A trial court had found that Tennessee’s practice of rejecting forms in which applicants indicate they have a felony conviction, and requiring them to provide documentary proof of their eligibility to vote, violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Republican state officials appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Friday paused the decision.

While Friday’s ruling isn’t permanent, it’s still a loss for Tennessee voters. According to local outlet The Tennessee Lookout, the decision means the state won’t have to implement changes to how people with felony convictions can register to vote in this year’s elections.

The decision comes as Tennessee election officials remain under fire for sending over 14,000 letters to residents seeking proof of U.S. citizenship in order to remain on the voter rolls. Outraged advocates and lawmakers called it another attempt to suppress the vote in the state, and the ACLU of Tennessee is threatening a lawsuit over the letters, which they say violate federal law.

“Tennessee is trying to make it harder for voters to exercise their most fundamental right, using methods that courts across the country have already repeatedly rejected,” Theresa J. Lee, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said last week in a statement. “Putting up these sorts of roadblocks based on voters’ race and national origin has no place in our democracy.”

The person responsible for the letters, Elections Coordinator Mark Goins, has not responded to Democracy Docket’s request for an interview. Read more about the letters and Tennesseans’ reactions.

FROM OUR DESK: Arkansas NAACP Will Not Appeal Decision That Gutted Voting Rights Act in Seven States

In a highly consequential case involving the Voting Rights Act (VRA), advocates decided against asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision that essentially gutted a key provision of the VRA in seven states, Democracy Docket’s Courtney Cohn writes.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November that private litigants can no longer bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the VRA. This includes any private citizens or pro-voting groups. Since the ruling, defendants in other VRA cases have tried to use the decision to seek a similar outcome from federal appeals courts like the 5th Circuit.

In an email to Democracy Docket, Barry Jefferson, president of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, said that “while the Eighth Circuit’s decision is an extreme outlier that we continue to believe is wrong,” the organization is still able to file voting rights lawsuits under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, so filing a petition with the Supreme Court isn’t necessary right now.”

Read more about the NAACP’s decision and the 8th Circuit’s VRA ruling.

What We’re Doing

Next week, Republicans from across the country will converge on Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where the party will officially nominate Trump, who is expected to finally announce his running mate. When that happens, Democracy Docket will have a full report on the candidate’s stances on voting rights and democracy.

In the meantime, check out our deep-dive into how Wisconsin officials — and the courts — are setting the stage for the November election and why some experts fear that another “red mirage” could occur.

Also, today New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie joins Marc Elias to discuss New York’s terrible voting laws, efforts to improve ballot access and how MAGA extremism has infected even the Empire State. Watch on YouTube here.