American Democracy Minute

American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 9, 2025 Election Official Tina Peters was Sentenced to 9 Years for Tampering with Election Machines to Prove the Big Lie.  Trump is Trying to Set Her Free. In August 2024, a jury convicted Mesa County, Colorado election official Tina Peters for tampering with her county’s voting machines in 2020, and allowing election deniers access to t...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 8, 2025 Federal Court Settles North Carolina Supreme Court Race, Heading Off a Dangerous Precedent of Retroactively Questioning Election Rules The November 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court race contested by the Republican candidate Judge Jefferson Griffin has finally been settled in federal district court.  Associate Justice Allison...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 7, 2025 Tennessee Enacts Voting Rights Restoration for Citizens Returning from Incarceration for Common Felonies Returning Tennessee citizens convicted of most felonies can now have their voting rights returned by a court order, rather than a pardon from the governor, under a law enacted May 2nd.  It also removed the requirement that...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 6, 2025 President Trump’s Crypto Conflicts Compound United Arab Emirates Investment Fund Uses $2B in Trump-Backed Cryptocurrency for Deal A new Trump-backed crypto currency company launched last September got a credibility boost when a United Arab Emirates investment fund used it to make a $2 billion dollar investment in another comp...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 5, 2025 Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Warns Judges, ‘The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy – on our system of government’ At a Puerto Rico conference May 1st, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned judges that recent threats from the White house are “attacks on our democracy.”  We read a portion of...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 2, 2025 Updates from North Carolina: Fed Court Stays Retroactive Registration Cures; State Court Strikes Down Law for Control of State Election Board We’re in North Carolina today with updates on the partisan attempt to overturn the 2024 state supreme court election, and the legislature’s attempt to strip the governor’s power to appo...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report for May 1, 2025 What is a ‘Baby FARA’ and Why are States Enacting It? The federal version of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, has been in place since 1938, but recently, states are passing their own versions, nicknamed “baby FARAs.”  What are they, and how do they relate to American Democracy? Some podcasting platforms strip out our links.  T...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 30, 2025 US DOJ Removes Senior Managers from Voting Section, Abandons Current Cases, in Further Erosion of Voting Rights Protections  The Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Justice reportedly reassigned top managers of the Voting Section, and instructed remaining attorneys to drop pending cases.  This includes voting rights...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 29, 2025 The Federal Election Commission is Reportedly Now Out of Commission with the Departure of Another Member.  It’s Unlikely to Get Fixed Soon. As if the Federal Election Commission didn’t have enough problems, another member has reportedly chosen not to continue when his term runs out April 30th.  That leaves the normally six...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 28, 2025 Federal Judge Blocks Proof of Citizenship Provisions in Trump Executive Order on Elections A partial victory for pro-voter groups April 24th, as a federal judge blocked the proof of citizenship portion of President Donald Trump’s executive order  changing federal elections.  The judge did not address other sections, which...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 25, 2025 Trump 'Meme Coin' Cryptocurrency Scheme Selling Access to the President Raises Alarms for Emolument Clause Violations President Donald Trump launched a cryptocurrency “meme coin” with his likeness on January 17th, just before inauguration day.  April 21st, with its value plummeting, the company offered top buyers of the co...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 24, 2025 Michigan Considers Proof of Citizenship Restrictions While Awaiting Outcome of the SAVE Act Vote and Challenge to Trump’s Executive Order Voting proof of citizenship efforts are afoot in Michigan while voters await the outcome of the federal SAVE Act and a Trump executive order requiring similar restrictions. This, despite...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 23, 2025 61 Individual and Corporate Donors Gave $1M or More to Trump’s Inaugural.  Where did the $239M Go?  We’ll Likely Never Know A parade of well-known brands and CEOs lavished a post-election tribute of $239 million dollars to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee,  according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission....

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 22, 2025 Chilling Trump Order Seeks Retribution Against Former CISA Head Who Pushed Back Against Trump’s Unfounded Claims of 2020 Election Fraud In one of his most bone-chilling orders to date, President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies to open an investigation of Christopher Krebs, the former...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 21, 2025 Former Congressman and Trump Nominee for IRS Commissioner Under Scrutiny for Campaign Finances and Ties to Alleged Tax Credit Scheme  A former Missouri Congressman and President Trump’s nominee for IRS Commissioner is under scrutiny for a sudden loan repayment for his failed U.S. Senate campaign.  He allegedly has ties to...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 18, 2025 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:  Democracy Headlines from Delaware, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire While corrosive democracy news from Washington continued this week, state news ranged from good in Delaware and Mississippi, mixed in North Carolina & Pennsylvania, to downright ugly in New...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 17, 2025 State of Ohio Embroiled in Another Fight Over Manipulating Citizen Ballot Initiatives It Doesn’t Like.  Now the U.S. Supreme Court is Involved. In 2024, a ballot measure to throw out Ohio’s dysfunctional politician-led redistricting process with an independent citizen-led process had its description rewritten by state offi...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report for April 16, 2025 Partisan Saga of North Carolina’s 2024 Supreme Court Race Now Returns to Federal Court.  5,000 Military & Overseas Ballots at Risk of Invalidation A North Carolina Supreme Court candidate who lost by 734 votes and refused to concede got help from the state appeals and supreme courts in his partisan battle to invalidate as many as 65...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 15, 2025 Brian is traveling today, so we're rebroadcasting a piece from last December.  As predicted, the Utah legislature has introduced two bills to make it harder to pass citizen ballot initiatives. Citizen Ballot Initiatives Help Voters Bypass Against Extreme Legislatures.  But Expect More Attempts to Block Those Initiatives in...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 14, 2025 A Bill Which Could Disenfranchise Millions, the SAVE Act, Passes the U.S. House But is Unlikely to Pass in the Senate The SAVE Act, which we’ve been following since January, passed the U.S. House April 10th. The restrictive voting bill, like President Trump’s recent executive order, requires proof of citizenship to registe...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 11, 2025 Pro-Voter Groups and 19 States Challenge Trump Executive Order on Voting Rules as Unconstitutional and Likely to Disenfranchise Millions Nineteen states and several pro-voter groups filed suit against a March 25th executive order by President Donald Trump.  The order appears to override Congressional and state jurisdiction...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 10, 2025 Wisconsin Voters Enshrine Voter ID in Their Constitution.  Voter ID is Popular with Voters, But Comes with Consequences On the ballot with Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race April 1st was a question to enshrine a voter ID requirement into the state’s constitution.  Voter ID is popular in Wisconsin and elsewhere, but comes with...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 9, 2025 Colorado Senate Advances State Voting Rights Act, As Federal VRA is Under Threat by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Conservative Majority Democracy advocates fear that the recent Louisiana case heard in the U.S. Supreme Court could further erode the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The Colorado Senate just passes a state VRA to ensure...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 8, 2025 ‘Millions’ of ‘Hands Off’ Protesters in 1,300 Locations and All 50 States Oppose Trump Policies & Cuts April 5 Americans unhappy with the draconian policies of President Donald Trump and his unelected advisor, billionaire Elon Musk, rallied in all 50 states April 5th. Over 600,000 had registered to attend, but organizer...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 7, 2025 Good Democracy News for a Change:  Federal Court Directs Pennsylvania to Count Undated Mail-in Ballots in Ongoing Partisan Dispute Some good news during some very dark days for American democracy.  A federal judge ruled Pennsylvania mail-in ballots without a date can be counted, protecting the vote of as many as 10,000 citi...