The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Jan. 21, 2026

We have mid-decade congressional redistricting updates today from California, Virginia, New Hampshire and Maryland.  The GOP appealed California’s case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

January 14th, a federal district panel allowed California’s voter-authorized Proposition 50 maps to be used.  Two days later, the California GOP appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.  The U.S. Supreme Court cited the Purcell principle as a factor in its Texas decision, saying changing maps would create confusion in the March 3rd midterm primary election.  California’s primary is June 2nd.  The high court has yet to accept the case.

In Virginia, Democrats in the General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment ballot question authorizing the legislature to conduct mid-decade congressional redistricting.  The Virginia Mercury reports that a referendum election date has not yet been set, but is expected this spring.  Democrats currently hold 6 of 11 congressional seats in the commonwealth.

HB 1300, a New Hampshire bill to redistrict the state’s two congressional districts, was effectively killed with the addition of an unrelated amendment.  Governor Kelly Ayotte has expressed opposition to midterm redistricting. 

Maryland’s Governor Wes Moore recently told the Associated Press he supports mid-decade redistricting, but Senate President Bill Ferguson vocally opposes it. 

We’ve linked to local reporting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

National Conference of State Legislatures – Changing the Maps: Tracking Mid-Decade Redistricting
U.S. DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA (via Election Law Blog) – PLAINTIFFS’ EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR AN INJUNCTION PENDING APPEAL
Virginia Mercury –  Virginia Senate Democrats advance mid-decade redistricting amendment 
AFT NH – HB 1300 was originally slated to be a mid-decade congressional redistricting bill but . . .
Associated Press – Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore pushes the case for redrawing the state’s congressional map 

Groups Taking Action:

Common Cause US, League of Women Voters US, Bipartisan Policy Center

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Redistricting #Gerrymandering #MidDecadeRedistricting #TrumpGerrymandering #CongressionalDistricts #FairMaps 

The post Redistricting Updates: CA GOP Appeals Prop 50 Maps to SCOTUS, VA Dems Push Constitutional Amendment, NH’s Bill Doomed, MD Stalemated appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Jan. 20, 2026

We have an update on the Trump Department of Justice efforts to force states to turn over voter and personal information for inclusion in its SAVE database.  Federal district judges in California and Oregon blocked DOJ’s actions, finding neither federal nor state law compelled the states to do so.

DOJ sought the names, social security numbers, home addresses, and voting history of nearly 23 million California voters and over 3 million Oregon voters, and sued those states and 18 others for refusing to provide that data. 

In a decision handed down January 15th, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter wrote that in addition to an unconstitutional overreach of the executive branch, the Help America Vote Act and National Voter Registration Act do not provide for disclosure of such data in the absence of violations. The judge also said the DOJ request violated the federal 1974 Privacy Act, E-Government Act, and California’s Driver’s Protection Act, and ruled California does not have to turn over the data.

In Oregon, Courthouse News Service reports that another federal judge tentatively dismissed a parallel case after a day-long trial January 14th, find that no state or federal law compelled Oregon to turn over unredacted voter information.  A written decision will follow.  Both cases are likely to be appealed.

We’ve linked the California decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (Sept. 2025) Justice Department Sues Maine & Oregon for Withholding State Voter Registration and Voting Data from Trump Administration
Oregon Capital Chronicle – Trump Justice Department sues Oregon, Maine for not turning over voter data
U.S. District Court for Central California (via Court Listener)  – United States v. Shirley Weber
NPR – A federal judge dismisses the DOJ’s effort to get voter data from California
Courthouse News Service – Judge rules Oregon won’t need to hand over unredacted voter rolls to Trump admin
Brennan Center for Justice – Tracker of Justice Department Requests for Voter Information
Oregon Attorney General – AG Rayfield Releases Statement Following Voter Data Court Hearing

Groups Taking Action:

Common Cause, ACLU, League of Women Voters CA, Our Oregon

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #California #Oregon #TrumpDOJ #VoterData

The post Federal Circuit Courts Block Trump DOJ from Obtaining California and Oregon Voter Data appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Jan. 16, 2026

January 14th, a 9th Circuit federal court panel rejected a GOP claim that California’s new congressional districts were racially gerrymandered.  The court said the Proposition 50 maps, created as a counterpunch to gerrymandering in Texas, were manipulated for partisan, not racial reasons.

Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a suspension of California’s independent redistricting rules, with 65% of voters later concurring, passing Proposition 50 last November.  The legislature, using an outside consultant, manipulated the map to flip as many as five congressional districts to Democrats. 

Republicans argued racial data was unconstitutionally used to create the maps.

 In the 2 to 1 decision, the majority wrote:   “Because we find that the evidence of any racial motivation driving redistricting is exceptionally weak, while the evidence of partisan motivations is overwhelming, challengers are not entitled to preliminary relief on any of their claims.” UNQUOTE

In Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court also decided it was partisan, not racial gerrymandering, allowing the manipulated map to stand.  But it also invoked the Purcell principle, suggesting it was too close to the Texas primary anyway, and blocking the map would create confusion.   It’s likely the Proposition 50 case will also be appealed, and a politicized U.S. Supreme Court majority could use Purcell to block California’s five Democratic seats.

We’ve linked the decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (Dec. 2025) U.S. Supreme Court Majority Embraces Texas Redistricting, Ignores District Court Panel Racial Gerrymandering Findings
CalMatters – Proposition 50 passed in California. Here’s what you missed
U.S. DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA (Via Democracy Docket) – Order in DAVID TANGIPA, et al.,  Plaintiffs, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. GAVIN NEWSOM, in his official capacity
as the Governor of California, et al.,

American Democracy Minute – (Nov. 2025) The Purcell Principle, Often Used in the SCOTUS Shadow Docket, Will Be Argued in the Texas Gerrymandering Decision.  What is it?

Groups Taking Action:

Common Cause, FairVote, League of Women Voters

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #California #Texas #TrumpGerrymandering #RacialGerrymandering #PartisanGerrymandering #FairMaps #Proposition50

The post Federal Panel Allows California’s Gerrymandered Counterpunch to Five More GOP Congressional Seats in Texas. Will a Politicized SCOTUS Block It?   appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Jan. 13, 2026

President Donald Trump’s executive order on elections took yet another hit January 9th, as a federal judge blocked portions of the order trying to dictate election and ballot deadlines, what voting systems can be used, and blocking federal funding for non-compliant states.  

Section 4, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, referred to as the “Elections Clause,” grants oversight of elections to the states and Congress.  That didn’t, however, stop President Trump from issuing “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” in March 2025, which included an attack on mail-in voting.  

Universal mail-in voting states Washington and Oregon sued, arguing the executive order was in violation of the Constitution’s Elections Clause and separation of powers.  Federal District Court Judge John H. Chun agreed, enjoining the administration from limiting ballot deadlines to election day unless Congress regulated otherwise.

The judge quoted another decision, writing, “‘The Framers recognized that, in the long term, structural protections against abuse of power were critical to preserving liberty.’ Their solution to governmental power and its perils was simple: divide it.”

The order also stopped the administration from withholding federal funds for states which didn’t comply, and from telling states what election systems could be used to cast ballots.   Three other challenges to the executive order have also prevailed; two have already been appealed.  

We’ve linked the decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

The White House – The White House – PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
Brennan Center for Justice – The President’s Executive Order on Elections
American Democracy Minute – (April 2025) Federal Judge Blocks Proof of Citizenship Provisions in Trump Executive Order on Elections
American Democracy Minute – (June 2025) Second Federal Court Invalidates More of Trump’s Executive Order on Elections as Unconstitutional, Burdensome, and Likely to Disenfranchise
American Democracy Minute – (Nov. 2025)  Federal Court in DC Issues Permanent Injunction on Part of Trump Executive Order on Elections; No to Changing Federal Registration Form
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON – Decision in State of Washington v. Trump
The Hill – Judge halts enforcement of Trump executive order against vote-by-mail 

Groups Taking Action:

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of Women Voters US, National Partnership for New Americans

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #TrumpExecutiveOrders #ElectionsClause #USConstitution #Washington #Oregon #VotebyMail #BallotDeadlines

The post Trump’s Executive Order on Elections Handed Another Defeat, as Federal Court Upholds a State’s Right to Set Ballot Deadlines, Choose Methods appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Jan. 9, 2026

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called an April special session of the legislature with the intent of redrawing the state’s congressional districts, further escalating the gerrymandering wars started last summer by President Donald Trump. An estimated three to five additional GOP seats are expected.

The special session begins April 20th after the regular session concludes, according to a statement by the governor’s office. The new map is likely to be immediately challenged as a violation of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment, prohibiting racial and partisan gerrymandering, passed with 63% of the vote in 2010.

The 2022 process was anything but compliant. Governor DeSantis vetoed the legislature’s least-changed congressional map, and forced through an aggressively gerrymandered map splitting the 5th District into four parts and diluting the historically Black north Florida district. Despite the obvious violation of the state constitution, the Florida Supreme Court allowed the new map, saying the former District 5 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

A Florida House redistricting committee has already met to consider new maps, but it’s also possible DeSantis may again insert himself into the process. In 2022, he hired an outside firm which ProPublica reports was paid $450,000 for redistricting work. Florida’s statewide candidate registration window for the August 18th primary ends June 12th.

We have more on Florida’s redistricting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

BallotPedia – Florida Amendment 6, Congressional District Requirements Initiative (2010)
Florida Politics – (2022) Gov. DeSantis signals he won’t sign Legislature’s proposed congressional maps
ProPublica (2022) How Ron DeSantis Blew Up Black-Held Congressional Districts and May Have Broken Florida Law
American Democracy Minute – (2023) DeSantis Congressional Map Diluting Black Voting Power Heads to Florida Supreme Court After Being Upheld by Appeals Court
Bolts Magazine – Floridians Restricted Gerrymandering. Their Justices Are Retreating on Enforcing That.
Florida Phoenix – (2025) DeSantis says Florida ‘will be forced’ to redistrict because of pending U.S. Supreme Court decision
Florida Phoenix – Governor calls an April special session on redistricting 

Groups Taking Action:

Commom Cause FL, Southern Poverty Law Center, Equal Ground

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #TrumpGerrymandering #MidDecadeRedistricting #RacialGerrymandering #PartisanGerrymandering #Florida #RonDeSantis #FairMaps

The post FL Governor Ron DeSantis Calls April Special Session to Gerrymander More GOP Congressional Districts, Escalating Redistricting Fight appeared first on American Democracy Minute.