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

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 #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. 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. 1, 2026

Audio coming soon

We’ve been reviewing our most important stories of 2025, and their implications for the future.  Expanded presidential powers, enabled by recent Supreme Court decisions, have eroded independent federal oversight of elections, voter data and campaign finance. It may get worse.

President Donald Trump has taken the position that he has absolute power over the personnel and actions of Congressionally-created independent federal agencies, a concept called the “unitary executive” theory.  While a president nominates heads of independent agencies, they are confirmed by the Senate, and by statute, can only be removed for QUOTE “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

Earlier this year, the President fired the chair of the Federal Election Commission Ellen Weintraub without cause, and by not nominating more commissioners, kept the agency from quorum, and oversight of federal elections and campaign finance rules.   He fired 17 “good government” inspectors general for federal agencies, with most positions kept vacant and others replaced with loyalists, further limiting oversight.   Trump’s March executive order on elections bypassed the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission to add a proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, later blocked in court. 

The outlook is not good.  December 8th, during a challenge to the firing of an FTC commissioner, the high court’s conservative majority appeared ready to override the independence of those agencies and grant the president complete control.  That decision is expected sometime in early 2026. 

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

NPR – How Trump’s firings could upend a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling limiting his power
The White House – PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
Brennan Center for Justice – Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
American Democracy Minute – Like the FEC, the FCC Could Get Taken Over by Partisan Actors Under Executive Order 14215, Potentially Tilting the Election Playing Field
Partnership for Public Service – President Trump’s firing of inspectors general threatens government accountability and efficiency
Campaign Legal Center – Protecting America’s Independent Agencies from Presidential Overreach (Trump v. Slaughter)
American Democracy Minute – How Much Power Does the President Have Over Independent Agencies?  Trump vs. Slaughter in the SCOTUS Tests the ‘Unitary Executive” Theory
SCOTUS Blog – Court seems likely to side with Trump on president’s power to fire FTC commissioner

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 #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers

The post American Democracy in 2025:  Expansion of Presidential Powers has Already Eroded the Independence of Federal Agencies. It May Get Worse. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Dec. 31, 2025

By any rational measure, the Texas legislature racially gerrymandered its congressional map in 2025 to add five more GOP seats at the request of President Donald Trump.  But the U.S. Supreme Court majority allowed it anyway, claiming plaintiffs hadn’t proven their case.

To get those five seats, zealous Texas legislators split Black and Hispanic communities in congressional districts for Austin, Dallas and Houston, traditionally majority-minority Black and Hispanic districts.

Since the 1960s, court precedent prohibited using race as a factor in partisan gerrymandering if it had the effect of racial discrimination.  With 2024’s Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP, the court erased that precedent.  In the recent Texas case, Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens, the lower court stated QUOTE, “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.” 

Yet despite 3,000 documents and a 160-page opinion, the high court’s conservatives said the plaintiffs had not met the court’s sky-high bar of showing INTENT to racially gerrymander, not just the effect. This included not submitting alternative maps to show how the legislature could draw the districts without racially discriminating. 

This decision, in combination with the expected Louisiana v. Callais opinion, may neutralize remaining Section 2 provisions, leaving minority voters with fewer voting rights protections, and even fewer ways to fight in court.We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s South Carolina Gerrymandering Decision Finds Disturbing Guidance for Lower Courts

American Democracy Minute – Trump-Requested Texas Congressional District Gerrymandering Blocked by Federal Court Panel
American Democracy Minute – U.S. Supreme Court Majority Embraces Texas Redistricting, Ignores District Court Panel Racial Gerrymandering Findings
Louisiana Illuminator – Supreme Court lets Texas keep new congressional map while legal battle continues
Brennan Center for Justice – The Supreme Court Messes with Texas’s Voting Map

Groups Taking Action:

LULAC, MALDEF, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Center for American Progress

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 #RacialGerrymandering #VotingRightsAct #Texas #FairMaps #USSupremeCourt

The post American Democracy in 2025:  To Prove Racial Gerrymandering, Minority Voters Must Now Show SCOTUS ‘Intent’ to Discriminate, Not Just ‘Effect’ appeared first on American Democracy Minute.