The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Dec. 4, 2025

Georgia was one of the first states to pass sweeping voter suppression laws after the 2020 election.  Among many major changes, Senate Bill 202 made it harder to vote by mail and banned giving food and water to voters in line.  It survived court challenges, but December 1st, an 11th Circuit federal court panel said free speech issues needed to be considered.

SB 202 infamously prohibited line warming, a tradition by civil rights groups of distributing food and water to voters forced to wait in long lines. Those lines often resulted from local election officials restricting the number of polling places and voting machines in African American communities.  SB 202 classified giving the food and water within a 25-foot electioneering zone as a gift designed to influence a voter’s decision.   

Scores of pro-democracy and religious organizations appealed.  In the words of the court, “They emphasize that the distribution of things like food and water to waiting voters communicates support of and solidarity for voters waiting in line and is part of what they call ‘a rich tradition of Black political activism.’ That expression, they say, is entitled to First Amendment protection.”  UNQUOTE.

The three-judge opinion didn’t rule on the merits, but instead sent the case to a lower federal district court to consider the precedent of another free speech case, Moody v. NetChoice.   

We’ll be following it carefully. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Brennan Center for Justice – Impacts of Restrictive Voting Legislation Since the 2020 Election
M.V. (Trey) Hood III, Univ. of Georgia & Seth C. McKee, Oklahoma State Univ. –  Gauging the Effects of SB 202 on Voting in Georgia 
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit –  Plaintiffs in re: Georgia Senate Bill 202
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit  – Opinion in  GEORGIA SENATE BILL 202.
Georgia Recorder – Georgia ban on ‘line warming’ at the polls revived after new ruling 

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU GA, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, League of Women Voters GA

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Georgia #LineWarming #SoulstothePolls #VoterSuppression #SB202

The post Part of Georgia’s Infamous SB 202 Voter Suppression Law Will Get Another Day in Court, Says Federal Court Panel appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 15, 2025

Oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais are scheduled for October 15th in the U.S. Supreme Court, with interpretation of the 14th and 15th amendments under debate, and the Voting Rights Act in the balance. 

The 14th Amendment enshrined civil and legal rights of formerly enslaved Americans.  Section 1 says in part:  “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” And in what became known as the Equal Protection Clause, “nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”   

The 15th Amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”  But Black, Native and other minority voters faced another 100 years of discrimination before Congress enforced it with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  

President Lyndon Johnson told Congress:    

“Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people.”

Find a live stream link for the Oct. 15th, 10 AM arguments at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Listen to the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments from Wednesday, Oct. 15

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

National Archives – 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868)
National Archives – 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870)
National Archives – Voting Rights Act (1965)
Brennan Center for Justice – The Voting Rights Act Explained

NAACP Legal Defense Fund – Louisiana v. Callais:  Protecting fair representation for Black voters in Louisiana and safeguarding the Voting Rights Act
Voices of Democracy Project – Transcript of LYNDON B. JOHNSON, “WE SHALL OVERCOME” (15 MARCH 1965) Speech to Congress
LBJ Library – Video of Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65 (Also known as his “We Shall Overcome” speech)

Groups Taking Action:

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, ACLU, Legal Defense Fund, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #14thAmendment #15thAmendment #VotingRightsAct #LBJ #EqualProtectionClause #LouisianavCallais #FairMaps #VotingRights

The post The Oct. 15 Louisiana v. Callais Voting Rights Case Depends on the Interpretation of the 14th & 15th Amendments. What Do They Say? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 15, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Cleta Mitchell, a 2020 Trump election lawyer who later pushed so-called ‘election integrity’ laws in states around the U.S., is calling for all U.S. Department of Justice voting rights and civil rights lawyers to be fired. 

Mitchell served in Trump’s team of lawyers trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.  Since then, her Election Integrity Network group helped state legislatures make it harder to vote by mail and to register and vote on election day.  She also called for states to leave the ERIC, the interstate Electronic Registration Information Center, because of a conspiracy theory that it was run by George Soros.  And most recently, she championed Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voting by undocumented immigrants.

November 13th, the same day Rep. Matt Gaetz was nominated for U.S. Attorney General by President-elect Trump, Mitchell wrote in a social media post, QUOTE, “Every lawyer in the Voting Section and likely in the Civil Rights Division needs to be terminated.   They are not supportive of Pres Trump or MAGA.  There has to be a reckoning.  These are leftwing activists who have come from and should return to their leftwing organizations. UNQUOTE

It’s unclear whether Mitchell’s influence is enough to dismantle the DOJ’s Voting Rights and Civil Rights units, but it’s indicative of the voting rights challenges ahead.

We have more on Mitchell and her so-called ‘election integrity’ projects at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Cleta Mitchell on X – “Every lawyer in the Voting Section and likely in the Civil Rights Division needs to be terminated.”

Mitchell’s Only Citizens Vote Coalition – No country can survive that allows guests and illegals
Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network – Election Integrity Network website
The New Republic – The Shadowy Right-Wing Group That’s Suppressing the 2024 Vote
The Guardian – She was a firebrand Democrat. Now, Cleta Mitchell is a rising star of Republican election denialism
The Hill – (2023) The 39 people the Georgia special grand jury recommended charges against
Free Speech for People – Letter to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Cleta Mitchell

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #USDOJ #CletaMitchell #BigLie

The post Trump ‘Election Integrity’ Lawyer Cleta Mitchell Calls for the Firing of All DOJ Voting & Civil Rights Lawyers appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 17, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

July 17th marks the anniversary of the death of civil rights icon and democracy champion Congressman John Lewis.  Exactly two years before he died, he gave a speech before the U.S. House on the right to vote, in support of the Voter Empowerment Act. We have an excerpt of his speech. 

(Unlike the audio report, we’ve included the entire speech below)

Congressman John Lewis will be honored with a National Day of Commemoration and Action in over 80 locations around the U.S. on July 17th.  We’ve linked to the schedule at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Office of Congressman John Lewis – Speech in the U.S. House, July 18, 2018
U.S. Congress – HR 12 Voter Empowerment Act

U.S. Congress – John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act  (2024)
Declaration for American Democracy – John Lewis National Day of Commemoration and Action Events

Groups Taking Action:
Declaration for American Democracy,  APIA Vote, Human Rights Campaign, League of Women Voters, Common Cause, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #JohnLewisAct #JohnLewis #GoodTrouble #FreedomtoVote

The post Civil Rights and Democracy Champion John Lewis Remembered With National Day of Commemoration and Action July 17th appeared first on American Democracy Minute.