“Brazil’s Former President Was Convicted of Plotting a Coup. What Comes Next?; Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for conspiring to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections.”

election subversion risk

NYT:

Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison on Thursday for overseeing a failed coup plot after losing the 2022 elections, a landmark ruling for Latin America’s largest nation.

Mr. Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a vast conspiracy that included overturning the vote, dismantling courts, handing special powers to the military and assassinating the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won the election.

Mr. Bolsonaro denied plotting a coup or planning to kill his political rival. He accused the Supreme Court justice who oversaw his trial, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, of unfairly targeting him and his right-wing movement.

The ruling marks the first time that Brazil, a nation with a long history of coups, has held accountable a leader who tried to subvert its democracy. But it is far from clear whether Mr. Bolsonaro will actually end up behind bars.

His conviction could also worsen the diplomatic tension between Brazil and the United States, which escalated after President Trump’s tried to help Mr. Bolsonaro, an ally, by applying tariffs and sanctions on Brazil….

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“Missouri lawmakers give final approval to map targeting a Democratic House seat”

direct democracy, redistricting

CNN:

Missouri’s Republican-controlled Senate on Friday passed a new congressional map, taking final legislative action to target one of the state’s Democratic seats in the US House and boost the GOP’s chances of retaining its fragile majority in the chamber.

The 21-11 vote came just two weeks after the state’s GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe first unveiled the map and ordered a special legislative session to approve it. It targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by carving up his Kansas City-area district and stretching its boundaries into rural, Republican-friendly areas of central Missouri.

Cleaver has pledged to fight the map in court and has said he plans to seek reelection. Opponents also intend to attempt to put the map before voters in the form of a referendum. They have 90 days after the map is signed into law to collect the signatures needed to force a statewide vote….

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“As Political Violence Rises, Trump Condemns One Side”

political violence

NYT:

After the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, President Trump released a four-minute video from the Oval Office in which he condemned the killing as the “tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day.”

Then, instead of calling for Americans of all political stripes to lower the temperature, Mr. Trump rattled off a list of political violence only targeting Republicans or perpetrated by those he views as on the left: the assassination attempts against him; attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers; the assassination of a health care executive in New York; and the mass shooting of Republicans at a congressional baseball practice that nearly killed Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Even though the authorities had not identified a suspect or motive, Mr. Trump placed the blame squarely on his political opponents.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Mr. Trump said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

Missing from Mr. Trump’s list was any reference to political violence targeting Democrats or perpetuated by those on the right.

The president made no mention of the recent killings in Minnesota of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband, who were on a hit list of dozens of left-wing figures; the arson attack on the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, while he and his family slept; a shooter’s attack on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a hammer assault on the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi; the shootings at an Arizona campaign office of Kamala Harris; or the Jan. 6 pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol that injured roughly 150 police officers.

In doing so, experts said, Mr. Trump captured the raw sentiment of his conservative base — the feeling of being under constant threat from the left in a country that is abandoning them. But the remarks addressed only part of the seemingly endless cycle of political violence America is experiencing.

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“Clarity about Callais and the fate of the Voting Rights Act”

Uncategorized

I’ve written a new “Justice, Democracy, and Law” column for SCOTUSblog. Here’s its summary:

There’s a widespread belief that the Supreme Court is poised to invalidate the core provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But that belief is based on conflating two distinct issues that need to be kept separate. Once that distinction is made clear, then the core provision of this landmark law can be preserved and enforced effectively even if the Court narrows the range of available remedies. 

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I Spoke to NPR’s Fresh Air: “An election law expert weighs in on Trump’s effort to reshape our democracy” (Link to Audio)

authoritarian threats in US, election administration, election subversion risk
Had a great conversation with Tonya Mosley for NPR’s Fresh Air: “Before 2026’s midterms, President Trump wants to ban mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines, and change voting rules. Legal expert Richard Hasen discusses the future of free and fair… Continue reading