The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Nov. 26, 2025

The Purcell Principle is supposed to keep last minute changes in election law from creating chaos before and during elections.  It’s also been unevenly applied in lower courts and the U.S. Supreme Court’s so-called ‘shadow docket’, and is being argued again in the current Texas racial gerrymandering case.

November 18th, a federal panel ruled the Texas legislature racially gerrymandered its 2025 congressional district map, and Texas immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s emergency docket.  Justice Samuel Alito granted a temporary stay, requesting responses from the parties by Nov. 24th.

Predictably, briefs supporting the State of Texas leaned heavily on Purcell v. Gonzales, the Arizona case which never defined “how close was too close” to the election. Since, some courts have ruled 90 days is too close, others six months.  

Texas candidates must file by December 6th for the 2026 elections, so the state and others argue the gerrymandered maps should stand.  

Pro-voter groups argue the racially gerrymandered maps are illegal, and Purcell doesn’t apply. They argue the election is a year away, and the federal court directed the 2021 maps be used.

In partisan hands, Purcell can be applied to swing an election, or in this case, to help retain control of the U.S. House.  Will the high court play shadow docket politics?  Expect an answer shortly.

We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – The Purcell Principle:  A SCOTUS Decision Intended to Avoid Voter Confusion May Now Be a Stealth Voter Suppression Tactic
American Democracy Minute – With Candidates Ready to File, SCOTUS Temporarily Blocks Ruling on Texas Racial Gerrymandering, Louisiana Gerrymandering Decision Still Pending
American Constitution Society – The Roberts Court, The Shadow Docket, and the Unraveling of Voting Rights Remedies
U.S. Supreme Court – Docket for Greg Abbott, et al., Applicants v. League of United Latin American Citizens, et al., including Monday, Nov. 24 Briefs
SCOTUSBlog – A Purcell Principle Explainer

Groups Taking Action:

LULAC, MALDEF, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

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 #PurcellPrinciple #TexasRedistricting #USSupremeCourt #SCOTUS #RacialGerrymandering

The post The Purcell Principle, Often Used in the SCOTUS Shadow Docket, Will Be Argued in the Texas Gerrymandering Decision.  What is it? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Nov. 24, 2025

As congressional candidates get ready for the 2026 midterms, the districts in which they run are still in limbo, waiting for the outcomes of two important racial gerrymandering cases in Texas and Louisiana.

Nov. 18th, a three-judge federal panel ruled 2-1 that the Texas legislature racially gerrymandered its 2025 maps to deliver five more GOP congressional seats at President Donald Trump’s request.  The Trump-appointed judge in the case said QUOTE “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”

Nov. 21st,  the State of Texas appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, noting the state’s candidate filing deadline of December 6th. That night, Justice Samuel Alito granted a temporary stay on the lower court’s order, and requested responses from the parties by Monday, Nov. 24th. A decision could come within days or weeks.  

Also pending, and even more consequential, is the high court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, argued on Oct. 15th.  In that case, congressional maps which followed the Voting Rights Act Section 2 statutes and restored African American majority minority districts were challenged as a violation of the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment.   Should the high court agree with Louisiana, the state’s congressional districts could strip Black voting power, and  remaining VRA protections could be neutralized nationwide, eliminating 60 years of precedent.

We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – Trump-Requested Texas Congressional District Gerrymandering Blocked by Federal Court Panel 
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas – El Paso – MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
U.S. Supreme Court – Appeal by State of Texas  in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott
Texas Tribune – Supreme Court temporarily restores Texas’ new congressional map
NPR – Redistricting deadlines for the midterms loom as states wait for a Supreme Court ruling
American Democracy Minute – Outlook for the Voting Rights Act Dims, as Court’s Conservatives Appear to Turn Away From Their Own Precedent 

SCOTUSBlog – (2021) Alito blasts media for portraying shadow docket in “sinister” terms

Groups Taking Action:

LULAC, MALDEF, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 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

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 #Texas #Louisiana #LouisianaVCallais #RacialGerrymandering #FairMaps #VRA #VotingRightsAct

The post With Candidates Ready to File, SCOTUS Temporarily Blocks Ruling on Texas Racial Gerrymandering, Louisiana Gerrymandering Decision Still Pending appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 24, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments March 24th in Louisiana v. Callais, in one of the most important voting rights cases of the year.   Voting Rights Act rules allowing minority Americans to elect the candidate of their choice hang in the balance.

We’ve followed this case in multiple courtrooms since 2022, after the Louisiana legislature racially gerrymandered its voting districts to dilute Black voting power.  Louisiana’s population is 33% Black, but in only one Congressional district out of six could Black voters have a realistic chance of electing a candidate of their choice.

The Voting Rights Act Section 2 rules allow for majority minority districts to be drawn, and such districts have been created for African American, Hispanic and Native American districts.  But in Louisiana v. Callais, a group of QUOTE “non-African-American individuals” appealed two court-ordered majority minority districts, claiming the districts were discriminatory and unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.   

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have consistently opposed exceptions for minority groups.  What is unclear is whether the rest of the conservative majority will join them to strike down more of the Voting Rights Act Section 2 rules.   The outcome could result in seismic changes in protections for minority voters around the country. 

Oral arguments begin at 10 AM Eastern , and we have a link to the audio live stream from AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – Majority-Minority Voting Districts Give Minority Voters a Fair Chance to Elect Proper Representation. The Equal Protection Clause is Now Being Used to Try to End Them
SCOTUS Blog – Effort to block second majority-Black district in Louisiana comes to Supreme Court
Brennan Center for Justice – (2024) Black Louisianians Fight in Court to Preserve Fair Voting Map
U.S. Supreme Court – BRIEF OF ALABAMA AND 12 OTHER STATES 
American University Law Review  – (2024) The Twists and Turns of A Map that Captured National Attention – Robinson v. Callais
American Redistricting Project – Louisiana v. Callais
U.S. Supreme Court – Recorded Audio for Oral Arguments March 24, 10 AM

Groups Taking Action:

Power Coalition for Equity and Justice,  ACLU of Louisiana

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – 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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Louisiana #VoterSuppression #RacialGerrymandering #VotingRightsAct #SCOTUS #USSupremeCourt

The post US Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments March 24th in Louisiana v. Callais with Protections for Minority Voters Hanging in the Balance appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 12, 2025

On the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, we’re examining how the landmark protections it moved forward in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are now being dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s far right majority.  Louisiana v. Callais may be the next blow.  

What started out as brazen racial gerrymandering in 2022 by the Louisiana legislature, has devolved into a new tactic to undo more of the already-weakened VRA.  Lower courts ordered the legislature to draw new, fairer maps.  After initial defiance, it drew two majority-minority Congressional districts to allow concentrations of the state’s 33% Black population to elect the candidate of their choice.

In 2024, a group of QUOTE “non-African American voters” appealed.  They claim that the new districts are a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment – making the redistricting decisions based on race  – and should be struck down.  In 2023’s striking down of affirmative action, Justices Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas pointed to the Equal Protection Clause, as did Alito in his 2023 dissent in Alabama’s Milligan racial gerrymandering decision.  

When oral arguments begin on March 24th, all eyes will be on Justices Kavanaugh & Coney-Barrett, who upheld the VRA’s Section 2 in the Alabama decision, but who also concurred with parts of Thomas’ Equal Protection Clause dissent. 

The voting rights for which the Selma marchers shed blood may indeed be in jeopardy.   We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. Supreme Court – Docket for Louisiana v. Callais
All About Redistricting – Louisiana v. Callais
Brennan Center for Justice – Black Louisianians Fight in Court to Preserve Fair Voting Map
SCOTUSBlog – Milligan Decision:  Supreme Court upholds Section 2 of Voting Rights Act
Campaign Legal Center – Supreme Court’s Impact on Voting Rights Is a Threat to Democracy
Legal Defense Fund – Louisiana v. Callais FAQ

National Constitution Center – Supreme Court rules against universities in affirmative action decision

Groups Taking Action:

Legal Defense Fund, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice,  ACLU of Louisiana

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – 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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Louisiana #VotingRights #FairMaps #VRA

The post Will Louisiana v. Callais Be the Latest Blow Against the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by SCOTUS? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 28, 2025

Today’s Script

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

The Equal Protection Clause, embedded in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, is now being used to dismantle the 1965 Voting Rights Act, opening the door to even more voter suppression.  What’s its history, and why is it being used now?

The 14th Amendment passed in 1868 and granted citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans. The Equal Protection Clause reads, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Scholars agree it was intended to stop states from discriminating against Black Americans.  Yet, as the National Constitution Center points out, it was also used to justify the U.S. Supreme Court’s Plessy vs. Ferguson, allowing discriminatory “separate but equal” schools, transportation and accommodations in 1896.  Another interpretation overturned that decision in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.  In 2023, it was used to eliminate race-based affirmative action for college admissions. 

U.S. Supreme Court conservatives, notably Justices Alito and Thomas, argue any consideration of race is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. How might their interpretation impact voting rights?  More on that in our next report.

Find our resources at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

National Archives – 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868)
U.S. Senate – Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth Amendment
National Constitution Center – The Equal Protection Clause
National Archives – Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Cornell Law – Equal Protection
ABC News – Supreme Court allows what critics call ‘racial balancing’ at elite public school
U.S. 

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Constitutional Accountability Center

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – 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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #EqualProtectionClause #14thAmendment #VotingRights

The post What is the Equal Protections Clause and How Have Interpretations of It Changed? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.