The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 1, 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.

Three federal court actions last week in South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida cases let stand racially-gerrymandered maps diluting Black voting power.  Those diluted maps neutralize the voice of Black voters in those districts for 2024. 

The majority minority North Florida 5th Congressional district was reconfigured by a map proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis into a white majority district.  That map was later struck down by a lower federal court.  Democracy Docket reports that March 27th, a federal district judge held that the plaintiffs did not prove Florida legislators intended to racially gerrymander the maps, and dismissed the case.   A Florida Supreme Court case is still pending.

Also March 27th, a federal appeals panel affirmed a decision over a new North Carolina Senate district which dismantled a former majority minority opportunity district.  The majority of the panel said it was too close to the election, and allowed it to stay through November 2024.

A U.S. Supreme Court case from South Carolina STILL doesn’t have an opinion. So with the June 11th state primary imminent, a lower court allowed a Congressional map diluting Black voting power to be used  for  2024.  The legislature had argued that it didn’t racially gerrymander, it gerrymandered for partisan reasons, which SCOTUS ruled in 2019 was an inherently state political issue. 

We have links to the decisions at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – Federal Court Upholds Florida’s Congressional Map That Eliminated Historically-Black District
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in Common Cause Florida v. Byrd
Democracy Docket – 4th Circuit Declines to Block New North Carolina Senate Map for 2024 Elections
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT  (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in Pierce v. North Carolina Board of Elections
Democracy Docket – South Carolina Will Use Gerrymandered Congressional Map in 2024, District Court Rules
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v. Alexander

Groups Taking Action:
South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP,  Common Cause Florida, Common Cause NC, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMaps #RaciallGerrymandering

The post Federal Courts Leave Racially Gerrymandered South Carolina, North Carolina & Florida Maps in Place for 2024 Election appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for December 7, 2022

Listen!

What Happens if the SCOTUS Majority Embraces the Independent State Legislature Theory in Moore v. Harper?

Today’s Links

Articles: 

Brennan Center for Justice – Moore v. Harper, Explained
The Atlantic – Is Democracy Constitutional?
PBS NewsHour – How the outcome of Moore v. Harper could impact federal elections
League of Women Voters US – State Legislature Seeks Unchecked Power over Elections in Moore v. Harper
Brookings / Democracy 21 – Democracy on the ballot—the “independent state legislature theory” will not empower state legislatures to override presidential election results
Arizona Mirror – Brnovich joins 12 other GOP AGs in ‘independent state legislature’ case
Groups Taking Action:
League of Conservation Voters NC, Common Cause NC, Democracy Docket, Campaign Legal Center, Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD)
DFAD Rallies on Moore v Harper – “Hands Off Our Vote”

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

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

December 7, the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Moore vs. Harper, a case testing the “Independent State Legislature” theory. So, what could happen if the majority embraces this theory?

At stake is whether state legislatures have ultimate authority over elections: Higher authority than the U.S. Constitution & statutes, higher than state supreme courts and constitutions, and higher than a Governor’s veto. The U.S. Supreme Court has already said in 2019 that only state courts have the authority to decide partisan redistricting cases. That decision essentially greenlighted the widespread gerrymandering we saw in the 2020 redistricting process.

The Brennan Center for Justice and other scholars suggest citizen ballot initiatives could be nullified. State legislatures could ignore the U.S. or state constitution’s voting rights provisions and establish unchecked barriers to voting. Existing state laws like early voting or voting by mail could be repealed without the check of a gubernatorial veto. Some scholars have suggested that legislatures could change the electors for a Presidential election, or overturn election results. Democracy 21’s Fred Werthheimer says this is unlikely, but Congress should pass the Electoral Count Reform Act to close that loophole.

In short, the impact of Moore v. Harper could reshape American democracy, and it could be one of the most consequential and destructive Supreme Court decisions of our time.

Find out more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post What Happens if the SCOTUS Majority Embraces the Independent State Legislature Theory in Moore v. Harper? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.