A year ago I started sending premium members a weekly Saturday reading list. Each week I tried to give them a sense of what stories I was reading that might not be garnering the most attention in the legacy media. From time to time, I offered suggestions about books, articles, and newsletters.
A year ago I started sending premium members a weekly Saturday reading list. Each week I tried to give them a sense of what stories I was reading that might not be garnering the most attention in the legacy media. From time to time, I offered suggestions about books, articles, and newsletters.
This week I want to try something a little different. As Democracy Docket has expanded its original reporting, many of you have asked for greater insight and context about what the team is covering and why it matters. I am always open to your feedback and suggestions.
So here we go…
All eyes are on today's military parade, but don't let the big headlines distract you from the many ways the GOP is chipping away at our democracy. This weekend reading list highlights those overlooked stories — upgrade to always get it delivered to your inbox.
The Democracy Docket team reported exclusively on Thursday that a top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official gave a private briefing to Cleta Mitchell’s voter suppression group on how election officials can use a DHS database to check voters’ citizenship. That’s according to an email obtained by Democracy Docket’s Matt Cohen, who keeps a close eye on the world of anti-democracy activism. Mitchell, of course, is the far-right lawyer who played a key role in Trump’s failed effort to steal the 2020 election and is mobilizing an army of volunteers to monitor the polls next year. I have said repeatedly, that the GOP voter suppression war machine is grinding away and that the Trump administration will do whatever it can to help them win.
Separately, Matt explained the impact of another Trump administration move to restrict voting: Trump’s repeal, on his first day back in office, of a transformative executive order issued by President Biden, which urged federal agencies to take steps to get new voters on the rolls. Biden’s order spurred numerous agencies to expand access to voter registration and made clear for the first time that the federal government has a responsibility to help make voting easy. It also spurred several lawsuits in 2024 aimed at preventing this expansion of voting rights to take place. It is no surprise then that Trump focused on repealing this initiative.
But, at least in a few places, Republicans who actually have to face voters next year may be thinking twice about some voting restrictions. Compared to the last few cycles, states passed fewer major voter suppression laws this year — a development we’ll have more on this week. And Democracy Docket’s Jen Rice, who recently joined us from the Houston Chronicle, worked her Texas sources to reveal that the state’s surprising failure to pass a proof of citizenship bill was likely due in part to a fear among GOP lawmakers that the measure could hurt the party’s own voters.
Of course, one of Trump’s most chilling moves this week came when he commandeered the California National Guard in response to largely peaceful protests against his immigration crackdown in Los Angeles. Democracy Docket’s Jacob Knutson, who’s been doggedly tracking the battles over Trump’s many attempts to expand his power illegally, explained how the move relies on a radical theory of executive authority known as the “protective power.” The theory, Jacob wrote, “blurs the line between military and civilian authority” and could lead to an escalation that gives Trump an excuse to claim yet more powers.
In an article I found particularly interesting, Jacob unpacked a tactic the administration seems to be using to try to turn public opinion against the courts. It’s known as “court-baiting,” and it works by forcing judges to take unpopular stances that are needed to protect constitutional principles, then attacking them for those decisions. It’s a ploy that’s been used by autocrats from Turkey to Hungary to El Salvador. And it’s playing a key role in Trump’s relentless bid to undermine the judiciary — perhaps the key current obstacle to his authoritarian power grab. We will see whether this continues and whether it will impact the way federal judges act.
There’s been much more from Democracy Docket this week that I haven’t mentioned. The assaults on democracy — at polling places, in courtrooms and on the streets — are going to keep coming thick and fast.
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