In the News
Super PACs have been growing in strength for more than a decade, but this cycle are swimming in more money than ever. They have started earlier, with more than $14 million in independent expenditures in the primary already, according to federal data, compared with around $950,000 at this time in 2015.
For the first time in more than two decades, Maryland is poised to welcome a new elections administrator with the selection of Jared DeMarinis to replace longtime administrator Linda Lamone.
A new study by Syracuse University researchers suggests the issue has implications beyond politics. The study, led by sociology professor Jennifer Karas Montez, investigates the link between democratic erosion and rising deaths. Previous studies showed labor policies, firearm policies, and more played a role but did not provide a full explanation.
Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose a luxury 2008 trip he took in which a hedge fund billionaire flew him on a private jet, even though the businessman would later repeatedly ask the Supreme Court to intervene on his behalf, ProPublica reported.
On Capitol Hill and in the courts, Republican lawmakers and activists are mounting a sweeping legal campaign against universities, think tanks and private companies that study the spread of disinformation, accusing them of colluding with the government to suppress conservative speech online.
In politics, money talks. And no one knows this better than the politicians running for elected office.
Americans surveyed shortly before last year’s midterm elections overwhelmingly saw political violence as a problem facing the country and generally opposed violent acts against either everyday people or elected officials. Still, a significant percentage deemed political violence — which the survey defined as “violence, threats, intimidation or harassment” — acceptable in certain scenarios.
In April 2021, we published the first edition of A Democracy Crisis in the Making: How State Legislatures Are Politicizing, Criminalizing, and Interfering with Election Administration.
On Thursday, June 8, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in the landmark redistricting case, Allen v. Milligan, in which the majority upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Section 2 prohibits any voting law, practice or map that results in the denial of the right to vote of any citizen on account of race.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito delayed filing annual financial disclosure forms as the Supreme Court faces unprecedented scrutiny on ethics issues. Legally mandated reports for seven of the current justices were made public Wednesday, while those for Thomas and Alito remained unreleased after they received extensions, a court spokesperson said.