The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Aug. 29, 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.

Special Counsel Jack Smith submitted a revised criminal conspiracy indictment of former President Donald Trump Aug. 27th, adjusted to remove actions deemed “official acts” by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority. 

Like the original indictment, Trump is charged with four felony counts in the U.S. District Court in DC:   Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of and an Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and Conspiracy Against Rights.  Removed in this version are charges related to Trump’s alleged manipulation of the U.S. Justice Department, to pressure state officials to change the outcome of the election, which the justices explicitly said was an “official” act.

Alleged “unofficial acts”, however, are still included, including: Knowingly deceiving the American public about the outcome of the election; attempting to pressure Georgia officials to “find” 11,780 votes; knowledge and support of the fake elector scheme; the attempt to pressure Vice President Mike Pence in his Constitutional but ceremonial role presiding over the certification; his speech at a privately-funded rally prior to the Capitol violence on January 6th; and attempting to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate” citizens’ rights under the U.S. Constitution.

No new trial date has been set, but it’s no longer feasible to try the former President prior to the election.   We have a link to the new indictment at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. Supreme Court – Presidential Powers – Presidential Immunity Opinion

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia – Revised Indictment in United States v. Donald J. Trump
SCOTUS Blog – Special Counsel Jack Smith revises indictment against Trump

The Hill – Smith files new indictment in Trump Jan. 6 case, adjusting for immunity decision

Groups Taking Action:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Campaign Legal Center, States United Democracy Center

Check Your Voter Registration:

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
• USA Vote Foundation – Registration, Eligibility, State Election Office Links
• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #TrumpCriminalTrials #ElectionInterference #JackSmith

The post Special Counsel Submits Revised Criminal Conspiracy Indictment of Trump After SCOTUS Immunity Ruling on Presidential Powers appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for June 5, 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.

Is the U.S. Supreme Court aiming to take yet another chop at the 1965 Voting Rights Act?  An Arkansas redistricting case has been sent back to a lower court after last week’s new rules making it harder to prove racial gerrymandering. 

In another case, the federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November 2023 that individual voters could not bring a “private right of action” for voting rights cases.  Instead, such cases could only be brought by the U.S. Justice Department.  A request to rehear the case was denied in January.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the Congressional gerrymandering case to be reheard by a three-judge district court panel to apply new standards handed down in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP.   Under the new SCOTUS rules, the plaintiffs will have to prove that the splitting of the 2nd Congressional district was done for racial, not political, reasons, and provide an alternate map which provides an acceptable balance.  In addition, the Arkansas voters will need to argue they indeed have a “private right of action” to bring the case.

Suspicious minds may argue that the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority is playing chess, expecting to see the case on appeal, where the right of private action can be stripped from precedent and Voting Rights Act protections.

Find more on the case and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – (2023) Radical Decision by Appeals Court in Arkansas Case Greenlights North Dakota Appeal to Restore Maps Designed to Suppress Native American Voting Power
American Democracy Minute – Federal Appeals Court Denies Rehearing of Radical Arkansas Voting Rights Act Ruling Shutting Out Voters & Democracy Groups from Bringing Cases
ABC/AP – US Supreme Court sends Arkansas redistricting case back to judges after South Carolina ruling
Democracy Docket – US Supreme Court Punts Case Challenging Arkansas Congressional Map

SCOTUS Blog – Simpson v. Thurston

Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, Arkansas Public Policy Panel

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ArkansasNews #VotingRightsAct #RacialGerrymandering #RightofPrivateAction

The post After Raising the Bar to Prove Racial Gerrymandering in South Carolina Case, the U.S. Supreme Court Reopens a 2022 Arkansas Redistricting Case appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 29, 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.

Opinions in two North Carolina cases offer both good democracy news and bad.   A sweeping voter suppression bill was temporarily blocked, but a gerrymandered state senate map diluting Black voting power was upheld.

Sweeping voter suppression bill HB 747 shortens the number of days when mail-in ballots can be received, limits notifications to a voter before removal from the voter rolls, allows poll observers to take pictures of voters in the polling place, and loosens restrictions on who can “challenge” another voter’s ballot, among many voter suppression tactics.  Democracy Docket reports there are three lawsuits challenging different provisions of the bill.

A provision targeting voters who register and vote on election day, used more by mobile, housing-insecure voters of color and younger voters, does not give those voters the chance to “cure” a registration or ballot issue, resulting in their ballots being thrown out.   The temporary injunction stops rejection of those ballots during the state’s March 5th Presidential primary.

In another federal court, democracy groups challenged the North Carolina legislature’s latest GOP state senate redistricting map as diluting Black voting power in five northeast counties.  Gov. Roy Cooper had vetoed the map, but was overridden.  The judge found there wasn’t sufficient evidence that Black voters met the criteria for a majority-minority district.    

We have more on the cases and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – North Carolina Legislature Overrides Governor’s Vetoes of Voter Suppression and State Election Board Bills
North Carolina Newsline – Federal judge blocks part of Republicans’ new election law
Democracy Docket – Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Provision of North Carolina Voter Suppression Law

U.S. District Court – NC Middle Division – VOTO LATINO v. HIRSCH

North Carolina Newsline – Federal judge denies Black voters’ request to throw out new Senate districts in northeastern NC
Democracy Docket – Federal Judge Declines to Block New North Carolina Senate Map for 2024 Elections

U.S. District Court – Eastern District – Pierce v. North Carolina Board of Elections

Groups Taking Action:
Voto Latino, Down Home North Carolina, North Carolina Black Alliance, Democracy North Carolina, North Carolina Voter, ACLU North Carolina

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VoterSuppression #HB747 #FairMaps #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #NorthCarolinaPolitics

The post Mixed News for North Carolina Voters, as Federal Courts Temporarily Block Voter Suppression Bill but Uphold Racially Gerrymandered Maps appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 13, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Ohio Capital Journal – Ohio House speaker, four others arrested amid massive dark-money, pay-to-play allegations
Ohio Capital Journal – Former Ohio speaker, GOP chair both found guilty of racketeering
Associated Press – Ex-GOP Ohio speaker, lobbyist guilty in $60M bribery scheme
The Columbus Dispatch – What you need to know about Ohio’s corruption scandal, Larry Householder trial
Energy News Network – Former Ohio regulator linked to $4M payoff directed agency to limit response to FirstEnergy corruption
Cleveland.com – (2021) Ohio campaign-finance reform bill gets first look since emergence of dark money scandal
Spectrum News 1 – Law expert provides insight on campaign finance reform
Ohio Legislature – HB 737 (2020) Campaign Finance Reform Transparency Bill
Ohio Legislature – HB 13 (2021) Campaign Finance Reform Transparency Bill

Groups Taking Action:

Ohio Citizens Action, Common Cause Ohio

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.

The Ohio Capital Journal and the Associated Press report that a former Ohio House Speaker, and a former state GOP chair were found guilty of racketeering in what prosecutors called the biggest bribery and money laundering scandal in Ohio history.   

Former Speaker Larry Householder and GOP chair Matt Borges were convicted March 9th for taking money in exchange for orchestrating the passing of Senate Bill 6 in 2019.  The bill shifted $1.3 billion dollars in costs from two FirstEnergy Corporation-owned nuclear power plants to Ohio ratepayers, and gutted renewable energy standards. The legislature repealed the power plant subsidies in 2021. 

FirstEnergy, and other utilities pumped an estimated $60 million dollars into 501c4 dark money groups, which helped elect Householder and several other allied candidates.  Those candidates then supported Householder for Speaker in 2018.  The trial showed Householder received $500,000 dollars and expensive entertainment from First Energy, and Borges received $100,000 dollars.  

Charges may be pending for others, including former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Sam Randazzo, whose associated company allegedly received $4 million dollars from First Energy.   

Since then, Ohio’s House & Senate committees failed to move campaign finance transparency legislation forward.  First Energy was fined $230 million dollars.

We have more information on the scandal at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

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The post Racketeering Convictions for Former Ohio House Speaker & GOP Chair in Dark Money Corporate Influence Scandal appeared first on American Democracy Minute.