American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 5, 2026 Unsigned SCOTUS Alabama Order May Make Intentional Discrimination Even Harder to Prove and Allow States to Ignore the Purcell Principle We recently reported that the U.S. Supreme Court’s majority greenlighted Alabama’s return to its 2003 congressional district map, twice struck down by a lower court as intentionally dis...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 4, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court Majority Greenlights Alabama’s 2023 Congressional Map, After a Lower Court Panel Said - Again - It Intentionally Discriminated May 26th, a federal district court ruled for the second time that the State of Alabama’s 2023 congressional district map was intentionally discriminatory. It said “Our re-exam...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 3, 2026 Louisiana Legislature Eliminates One of Two Majority Black Congressional Districts, Flipping One to the GOP, After SCOTUS Callais Decision Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a new congressional district map May 29th, eliminating one of two Black majority districts by adding nearby conservative White majority voters. ...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 2, 2026 New Hampshire’s Proof of Citizenship Law Violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments as Undue Burden, Rules Federal District Judge  A federal judge ruled May 29th that New Hampshire’s 2024 proof of citizenship law intended to stop a microscopic noncitizen voting and voter fraud threat created a significant burden to eligib...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 1, 2026 Federal Court Allows Trump Order Federalizing Mail-In Voting Rules to Proceed Because Voters Haven’t Been Harmed – Yet Because no voters had yet been harmed, a federal district court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with President Donald Trump’s March 31 executive order federalizing mail-in voting rules. The...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 29, 2026 Federal Court Panel Rejects Alabama Congressional Map - Again - as Intentional Discrimination.  State Officials Appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. There’s another showdown between the courts and the State of Alabama over congressional district maps, and it’s likely headed - you guessed it - back to the U.S. Supreme Court...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 28, 2026 As Angry Voters Turned Out in Record Numbers for Early Voting, South Carolina Senate Decides to Abandon Trump-Pushed Redistricting Map The South Carolina Senate abandoned a plan May 26th to flip the state’s only liberal-leaning congressional district to conservatives.  A ticking clock, over a hundred proposed amendments...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 27, 2026 The Cost of Partisan Power:  Mid-Decade Redistricting and Delaying Congressional Primaries Will Cost the Taxpayers Big Money States conducting mid-decade redistricting racked up big bills for the special sessions, special elections, delayed congressional primaries, infrastructure changes, and extra labor.  And it’s taxp...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 26, 2026 The Redistricting Arms Race was Fueled by Hundreds of Millions in Super PAC and 501C4 Money from Both Sides in Virginia and California The redistricting arms race fights in Virginia, California and elsewhere were fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars from Super PACs and hard-to-track dark money groups.   Contributions s...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 25, 2026 Ballrooms & Billion Dollar Slush Funds: For Memorial Day, Words from Legendary Campaign Finance Reformer, Doris “Granny D” Haddock In a Memorial Day tradition, we bring you an abridged portion of a speech at the U.S. Capitol by legendary campaign finance reformer Doris “Granny D” Haddock, the 90-year-old grandmother...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 22, 2026 South Carolina Legislators Advance Map Flipping the State’s Only Blue Seat, Likely Delaying the Congressional Primary at a Cost of $6 Million  South Carolina legislators advanced a new congressional redistricting map May 20th, after Governor Henry McMaster ordered a special session.  The map, which likely flips South Ca...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 21, 2026 Missouri SOS Still Scheming to Derail November Ballot Initiative to Overturn New Gerrymandered Congressional Map Splitting Kansas City Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins told the Associated Press last December he would do “Everything I can to protect Gov. Kehoe’s Missouri First Map,” UNQUOTE.  “Everything” appare...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 20, 2026 Could SCOTUS Have the ‘Private Right of Action’ In Their Sights?  The Court Returns Two Cases to Lower Courts for ‘Further Consideration’ May 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court returned two cases to lower courts which  challenge Voting Rights Act provisions allowing an individual to sue for violations, called a “private right...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 19, 2026 Amidst Caustic Anti-Democracy Bills Nationwide, Maryland Passes Positive Election Reforms, Including Its First Ranked Choice Voting Rules Overshadowed by the stream of caustic gerrymandering and voter suppression bills nationwide, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed several pro-voter election bills May 12th.  One bill in...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 18, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court Rejects VA’s Hail Mary to Save Its Redistricting Referendum; First Challenge to Florida’s New Map Reaches Court The Hail Mary stay application by Virginia Democrats to save their congressional redistricting referendum was rejected by U.S. Supreme Court May 15th.  The same day, the first challenge to F...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 15, 2026 Redistricting Firefight: SC Gov. Signals Special Session to Bypass Senate Vote; GA Gov. Calls Special Session for 2028 Maps; MD Senate May Reconsider Like a stubborn, arson-ignited wildfire, partisan gerrymandering keeps flaring up. South Carolina will apparently redistrict after all, after its governor signaled he would ca...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 14, 2026 SC Senate Derails Redistricting of Congressional Map; MO Supreme Court Finds Map Eliminating Majority Black Kansas City District is Constitutional In yet more redistricting news, the South Carolina Senate failed to reach a two-thirds vote to extend their session to redistrict the state’s congressional map. Missouri’s su...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 13, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court Stays Lower Court Order Directing Alabama to Create Another Majority-Black Voting District – An Order it Previously Upheld It took two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court to finally compel a second majority-Black congressional district in 2025, after a defiant Alabama legislature would not.  May 11th, the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 12, 2026 Callais Decision Fallout as Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama & South Carolina Scramble to Eliminate Black Congressional Districts We’re tracking the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Callais decision, sending GOP-dominated Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama & South Carolina scrambling to eliminate their Black-majori...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 11, 2026 VA Supreme Court Invalidates Redistricting Referendum for Not Following the Rules for Amendments. It Could Tilt Control of Congress. In a stunning decision May 8th, the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the April redistricting referendum authorizing new congressional district maps.  The court pointed to the state const...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 8, 2026 Federal Judge Acknowledges ‘Problematic’ and ‘Troublesome’ Evidence for Warrant, But Still Denies Fulton County Return of Its Seized 2020 Ballots A federal district judge ruled May 6th that the FBI did not have to return Fulton County, Georgia’s 2020 ballots and election records. The ruling came after revelations that th...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 7, 2026 Maryland Passed Its State Voting Rights Act 24 Hours Before the SCOTUS Callais Decision.  Will State VRAs Replace the Federal Protections? Maryland became the 10th state to pass a state voting rights act on April 28th, just 24 hours before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down use of race-concious redistricting under Sectio...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 6, 2026 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Redistricting Bill with Four More GOP Seats; Illinois and New York Contemplate a Response The gerrymandering arms race escalated further May 4th, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed congressional maps adding as many as four additional GOP seats.  With the U.S. Supreme Court adding...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 5, 2026 Louisiana v. Callais Didn’t Just Affect VRA Section 2 Protections for Black Americans; Hispanic, Native, and Asian-American Districts are Impacted, Too. The U.S. Supreme Court’s seismic April 29th decision that the Equal Protection Clause prohibits using race in redistricting decisions didn’t just affect African American...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 4, 2026 The U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Louisiana Sends States Back to the Gerrymandering Drawing Board to Rig Districts Before the Midterms The April 29th U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais has unleashed a torrent of last minute gerrymandering, and escalated the redistricting arms race in both red and blue...