American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 16, 2025 Second Federal Court Invalidates More of Trump’s Executive Order on Elections as Unconstitutional, Burdensome, and Likely to Disenfranchise In April, a DC federal district court ruled President Donald Trump does not have constitutional authority to require proof of citizenship for federal elections.  June 13th, another...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 13, 2025 Apparent Racial Gerrymandering in Tarrant County, TX Draws Condemnation and a VRA Lawsuit.  The County’s Reply?  It’s OK. It was for Political Reasons. Tarrant County, Texas county commissioners approved a new county redistricting map June 3rd diluting the votes of Black and Hispanic voters, but commissioners claim the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 12, 2025 In a Victory for Voters, Georgia Supreme Court Strikes Down 2024 State Election Board Rules Driven by Conspiracy Theories We’re following up on a story from last summer when Georgia’s state elections board voted to allow county election board members to conduct their own investigations before certifying an election, po...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 11, 2025 What are Title 10, the Insurrection Act and the Posse Comitatus Act, and When Can the President Use Them?  Spoiler: LA Doesn’t Likely Qualify. In a highly controversial action, President Trump is testing the reach of his powers by sending 4700 military personnel into Los Angeles to suppress protests. What are Title 10,...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 10, 2025 How Adding a Citizenship Question in the Next U.S. Census Could Change the Make-Up of Congress You may have filled out a  U.S. Census questionnaire which promised to keep your individual data private.  There’s concern the Trump administration or Congress may add a question about your citizenship in the 2030 Census.  Wo...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 9, 2025 Arkansas Congressional District Racial Gerrymandering Case Dismissed by Federal Court Panel A three-judge panel dismissed a case June 6th by a group of Black Arkansas voters that the state legislature racially gerrymandered Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District. It’s the state’s fourth redistricting challenge since 2021....

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 6, 2025 Iowa Gov. Signs Bill Banning Ranked Choice Voting, and Allowing Poll Workers to Challenge Citizenship Status of Voters Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed two election bills May 2nd, one of which  includes provisions for poll workers to challenge the citizenship of voters in the polling place, a ban on ranked choice votin...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 5, 2025 Civil Trial Against My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell Starts June 9 for Allegedly Defaming Former Dominion Voting Systems Exec We’ve been revisiting election denial hotspots this week, five years after the 2020 election. Monday, June 9th, a civil trial begins against My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, accused of defaming former Domin...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 4, 2025 Looking for a Presidential Pardon?  Loyalty and Endorsements are Apparently More Important Than Political Corruption President Donald Trump recently announced pardons to a range of individuals, including convicted drug dealers, fraudsters, and . . .  convicted public officials.  ABC New reports 1 in 5 have political or...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 3, 2025 CO Man Sentenced to 3 Years for Threats Against Top CO and AZ Election Officials, Judges and Law Enforcement We recently reported on county supervisors in Shasta County, CA still clinging to debunked 2020 election fraud claims by President Trump and his allies.  May 29th, a Colorado man was sentenced to three years in p...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 2, 2025 Five Years After the 2020 Election, More Election Denier Turmoil in Shasta County, CA Almost five years after the election, impacts of debunked 2020 election fraud claims by President Donald Trump and his allies still reverberate.  We’re back in Shasta County, California, where once again, supervisors have stoked an ele...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 30, 2025 With His Corruption Charges Dropped by the Trump DOJ, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Sues NY Campaign Finance Board for Denying Matching Funds New York City Mayor Eric Adams had his bribery and corruption charges dropped by the U.S. Department of Justice under questionable circumstances in April. Because of those charges, the New...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 29, 2025 Federal Appeals Court Weighs Whether the Georgia Legislature-Drawn Majority-Minority Districts in Metro Atlanta Met Judge’s Order In a recent report from Georgia, we told you about voters contesting a mass voter eligibility challenge by election conspiracy group True the Vote.   In another 11th Circuit courtroom that same w...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 28, 2025 2020 Mass Challenges of 364,000 Georgia Voters Under Scrutiny by Federal Appeals Court Georgia law allows unlimited challenges by voters to the eligibility of other citizens registering or voting. Before a hotly-contested U.S. Senate runoff elections in 2021, an activist group challenged over 364,000 voters.  The case i...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 27, 2025 Courts Use the ‘Gingles Test’ to Determine Whether Redistricting Violates the Voting Rights Act Federal courts often use the “Gingles Test” when determining whether a gerrymandered redistricting map is a violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. How that test is interpreted can determine whether minority voters can elect...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 26, 2025 Campaign Finance Reformer Doris "Granny D" Haddock's Words on Memorial Day As the egregious violations of the emoluments clause add up, with unknown millions in dark money contributed during the transition, another $240 million in inaugural donations, and now peddling meme coins and receiving a Boeing 747, I wonder what...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 23, 2025 Michigan GOP’s ‘Independent State Legislature Theory’ Case Rebuffed by U.S. Supreme Court The “Independent State Legislature Theory” met a skeptical U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 in Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina gerrymandering case. The Michigan GOP tried to employ the fringe theory to undo Michigan’s Question 2 citize...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 22, 2025 NH Senate Kills Bill Requiring Proof of Citizenship with Absentee Ballot; Challenge to 2024 NH Proof of Citizenship Law Heard in Federal Court The New Hampshire Senate killed a bill requiring absentee voters to include copies of citizenship documents when requesting and returning absentee ballots.   In a separate court case...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 21, 2025 Indiana Bans Student IDs as Voter ID; Challenger File Suit Contending Law is a ‘Surgical Strike on Young Voters’ Since 2005, the State of Indiana allowed voting-eligible students to use their student IDs to vote.  April 16th, Governor Mike Braun signed SB 10, which included banning use of student photo IDs for voting without...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 20, 2025 Brennan Center Report Shows Gerrymandering’s Impact on Control of Congress Gerrymandering, the manipulation of voting district boundaries to engineer an election outcome which benefits a particular party, had a significant impact on control of the new Congress, according to a Brennan Center Report. Today’s Links Articles &am...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 16, 2025 Pro-Voter Groups Again Challenge ‘Least Change” Congressional Districts in Wisconsin Supreme Court, After Outcome of April’s $100M Court Race After the election of liberal-leaning Justice Janet Protasiewicz in 2023, Wisconsin state assembly and senate maps were challenged in the Wisconsin Supreme Court and subsequently throw...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 15, 2025 This is a timely rebroadcast of a piece we did last November on the emoluments clause.  The numbers quoted are chump change compared with the money being thrown at President Donald Trump by foreign countries right now in bitcoin, sweetheart investments and even a luxury Boeing 747.  What would the framers have said? The Cons...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 14, 2025 Special Note from the Host :   You may notice some slurring of my speech during this and upcoming reports. May 9th, I suffered an attack of Bell’s Palsy which has affected the right side of my face and impacts my speech.  This is being treated, and recovery is expected with 2-3 weeks of steroid treatments.  Thanks for your p...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 13, 2025 Special Note from the Host :   You may notice some slurring of my speech during this and upcoming reports. May 9th, I suffered an attack of Bell's Palsy which has affected the right side of my face and impacts my speech.  This is being treated, and recovery is expected with 2-3 weeks of steroid treatments.  Thanks for your p...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 12, 2025 Special Note from the Host :   You may notice some slurring of my speech during this and upcoming reports.   I've suffered a bout of Bell's Palsy which has affected the right side of my face and impacts my speech.  This is being treated, and recovery is expected with 2-3 weeks of steroid treatments.  Thanks for your patience...