Democracy in the States: Weekly Roundup
Updates on campaigns, policy changes, obstacles and successes for democracy renovation at the state level.
TEXAS: Texas governor signs new redistricting bill, setting up loss of Democratic seats in US House | By Maya Yang, The Guardian, Aug 29, 2025
Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’s new congressional map after House and Senate passage. The plan could add up to five GOP seats and shrink Democratic-leaning districts after a weeks-long Democratic walkout.NATIONAL: The battle over higher education | By Eric Schulzke, Deseret Magazine, Aug 28, 2025
This piece tracks the donor-driven backlash and executive-branch interventions reshaping university governance and speech rules. In the piece, Danielle Allen explains: “The legislative branch needs to be responsive to the people and functional. It needs to deliver negotiated solutions to shared problems. When it can, it produces a sort of synthetic pathway we can stay on with stability. When it ceases to function, the executive steps into the vacuum because people are frustrated.”LOUISIANA/NATIONAL: Louisiana asks SCOTUS to curb Voting Rights Act, bar race in redistricting | By Zach Montellaro, POLITICO, Aug 27, 2025
Louisiana urged the Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais to scrap key VRA precedents and prohibit race-conscious mapmaking. It abandoned defense of its current map ahead of an Oct. 15 argument.MASSACHUSETTS: Real Change for Women in Politics Requires Fixing Broken Systems | By Cynthia Richie Terrell, Ms. Magazine, Aug 25, 2025
Highlights RepresentWomen’s 2025 Gender Parity Index and makes the case that RCV and proportional systems accelerate women’s representation (Massachusetts earns a “B”).CALIFORNIA: The Untapped Power of Charters in Local Government | By Raphael J. Sonenshein, Governing, Aug 25, 2025
Using L.A. County’s Measure G as a case study, the piece argues local charters are potent tools for democratic accountability.NATIONAL: Partisan gerrymandering is a flashing warning light for democracy (Opinion) | By Glenn Nye, The Hill, Aug 24, 2025
Argues escalating partisan map-drawing risks hollowing democratic legitimacy and urges independent commissions as a structural fix.NATIONAL: Of Course the Voting Rights Act Would Die at This Moment (Opinion) | By Linda Greenhouse, The New York Times, Aug 25, 2025
Greenhouse argues the Court’s latest move to revisit the VRA continues a long arc of decisions eroding the law and could further weaken remaining protections.
CALIFORNIA/TEXAS/NATIONAL: Redistricting war between Texas and California is about to escalate | By Liz Crampton, Dustin Gardiner, and Nick Reisman, POLITICO, Aug 23, 2025
Politico covers dueling party efforts in Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, New York, Illinois, and Maryland. California takes ballot initiative action in response to GOP moves in Texas.Want more background on today’s big issues? Here are a few places to look.
NATIONAL: Millions of Americans Don’t Have Documents Proving Their Citizenship Readily Available | By Kevin Morris and Cora Henry, Brennan Center for Justice, June 11, 2024
Requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration would exclude an estimated 21.3 million adult U.S. citizens who don’t have those documents readily available.NATIONAL: Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections (Executive Order) | The White House, Mar 25, 2025
Directs the EAC to require documentary proof of citizenship for federal registration and to revisit voting-system certifications, with wide implications for state election administration.LOUISIANA: Miscellaneous Order in Louisiana v. Callais (24-109) | U.S. Supreme Court, Aug 1, 2025
The Court expanded the issues in the Louisiana redistricting case and ordered supplemental briefing on whether creating a second majority-minority district violates the Constitution or VRA.LOUISIANA: Docket — Louisiana v. Callais (No. 24-109) | U.S. Supreme Court
Official docket page tracking filings and deadlines in the Louisiana redistricting case that could further reshape the Voting Rights Act.ALABAMA: Shelby County v. Holder (2013) | Oyez, June 25, 2013
Case summary of the decision that disabled the VRA’s preclearance formula, setting the stage for today’s redistricting and voting-rights fights.TEXAS: Northwest Austin MUD No. One v. Holder (2009) | Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center, June 22, 2009
Earlier case that foreshadowed Shelby County by signaling the Court’s skepticism of VRA Section 5 preclearance.In case you missed it …
“Don’t Be Afraid to Free the Bear,” By Danielle Allen, The Renovator, Aug 26, 2025
“How We Lost the Cold War by Accident,” By Danielle Allen & Joanna Kenty, The Renovator, Aug 27, 2025
“Toward a Supermajority for Constitutional Democracy,” By Danielle Allen, Joanna Kenty, and Aidan Fitzsimons, The Renovator, Aug 25, 2025