American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast

Impacts of Recent SCOTUS Decisions on Gerrymandering in Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin

July 4, 2023July 4, 2023

U.S. Supreme decisions in Moore v. Harper and Milligan v. Merrill set in motion changes to gerrymandered maps in Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio & potentially Wisconsin.

Would the Founding Fathers Have Given You the Freedom to Vote?

July 3, 2023July 3, 2023

Thomas Jefferson was an owner of enslaved people when he wrote this line in the Declaration of Independence: "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed." Who could give that Consent by voting was debated by the landed White male gentry, framing what became the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

Moore v. Harper Hangover: SCOTUS Decision OKs Court Review, but Also Cracks the Door for a Weaker Version of the Independent State Legislature Theory

July 2, 2023July 2, 2023

Democracy advocates rejoiced last week upon the U.S. Supreme Court’s Moore v. Harper Independent State Legislature decision. But now that scholars have taken a closer look, there’s a reason to sleep with one eye open.

Challenge to Portions of Kansas Voter Suppression Laws Reach the State’s High Court

June 29, 2023June 29, 2023

Fueled by 2020 election conspiracy theories, the Kansas legislature overrode the Governor’s veto on two 2021 bills erecting barriers to voting by mail. Citizens and freedom to vote groups are fighting back in the Kansas Supreme Court.

U.S. Supreme Court Tamps Down the Fringe “Independent State Legislature” Theory in an Important Decision for Democracy

June 28, 2023June 28, 2023

We now have a decision in Moore v. Harper, the “Independent State Legislature” theory case which had pro-voter advocates concerned for the future of voting rights. June 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that state courts DO have a say in election law, and that power doesn’t reside exclusively in state legislatures.