“Unquestionably”

This Week in Democracy

• States United released “Safety and Confidence at the Polls,” a new report and website detailing how voters’ fears of election-related violence impact voter turnout and behavior. The data shows that women and other marginalized communities were more likely to feel unsafe voting in the 2024 election, and that up to 6 million voters may have stayed home due to safety concerns.➡️ EXPLORE: ElectionSafety.org
• The U.S. House passed a bill that includes major policy changes supported by President Trump. Among other things, it aims to reduce federal funding for some state-run programs, including Medicaid. The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is already facing opposition.➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About the State Impact of Medicaid Cuts
• A federal judge said the Trump administration “unquestionably” violated a court order by allegedly deporting people to countries they have no ties to without giving them time to challenge their removal in court.
• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from carrying out Trump’s executive order that directed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to close the Department of Education. The attorneys general of 20 states and D.C. sued the administration in March, seeking to block the order.In his decision, the judge wrote that the administration acknowledged the department cannot be shut down without approval from Congress. He also wrote that there is no evidence that the mass firings of federal employees made the department more efficient, as the administration claims. “Rather, the record is replete with evidence of the opposite,” he wrote.

  ➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About State Authority and Education

• The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause a judge’s order to hand over records about the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). A judge ordered DOGE in March to provide the records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog organization, finding that DOGE was likely subject to federal transparency laws.

State of the States

In Michigan, 11 state lawmakers asked the U.S. Supreme Court in March to hear their case against state policies that make voting easier—including automatic voter registration, no-excuse absentee voting, and straight-ticket voting. This week, the justices denied their request.

The lawmakers’ attorney, Erick Kaardal, said he would continue to challenge the policies in state court. (Kaardal was among the lawyers who filed frivolous lawsuits challenging the certification of the 2020 presidential election.) Experts say any further challenges are unlikely to succeed.