Democracy Happy Hour – Dec. 16, 2020

This week's topic: Democracy & the Courts.

Fix Democracy First hosts a weekly Democracy Happy Hour on Wednesdays @ 5-6pm PT. Grab a drink and join us and  learn about the latest democracy efforts, challenges, solutions, as well upcoming events and actions.

Recording from Wednesday, December 16, 2020:

• Gallery view: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/DQFOlB95xmEMfjr6YKWdBN0AKDdTMwwtAM-IH7nEyA5zh14UQ8d5FkZTxY7xa-Nubffoy9iXORpGxxoD.Hr2homdl6ROvx2Gz

• Speaker view: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/2QvvOkngKg4bmCoSz1ohJx5CxVwhnzW9oP06eVI7UXDelr7Ex-YCLgfCjZvvddlOFBk-x1VZLs6iJeXG.vhcxsl5SfXwPj0cg

• Chat file: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/sdownload/0_gX7hIqGg4zxizxMQVlD-08cRZCnxsF4LdAvqdE8O_7EFrh7J2Eyh8OiiZPnAUx4oCzNG5sSYjpICBj.l69YrlEg6eSLedz5
  

Democracy Happy Hour – December 16, 2020 Links:

In the News & Protect the Results Updates:

• Interactive Map - Reveals which Indigenous Lands you’re living on - https://mymodernmet.com/interactive-map-indigenous-lands/ - Native Land - https://native-land.ca/

• Supreme Court dismisses bid led by Texas attorney general to overturn the presidential election results, blocking Trump’s legal path to a reversal of his loss - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-texas-election-trump/2020/12/11/bf462f22-3bc6-11eb-bc68-96af0daae728_story.html

• The Electoral College vote was blissfully bureaucratic and boring - https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/14/electoral-college-vote-was-blissfully-bureaucratic-boring/

• McConnell warns GOP off Electoral College brawl in Congress - https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-gop-electoral-college-34fb478601b72b3e8049f12371670001

• Mitch McConnell begs Republicans to stop feeding the Trump beast - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/15/mitch-mcconnell-begs-republicans-stop-feeding-trump-beast/

• ‘With reservations’: Trump voters grapple with Biden’s win - https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-voters-joe-biden-b2ab709f2ae8095cd586f20bcfce6627

• William Barr Is Out as Attorney General - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/us/politics/william-barr-attorney-general.html

• How Americans overwhelmingly rejected violence this election season - https://thefulcrum.us/big-picture/election-protests-in-america

• Guess which states saw the most election disinformation in 2020 - https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/16/1014633/data-shows-swing-state-voters-more-local-disinformation/

• It’s Official: The Election Was Secure - https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/its-official-election-was-secure

• GOP efforts to overturn election may do lasting harm to democracy, political scientists warn - https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/14/republicans-trump-election-democracy-texas-lawsuit/

• Some GOP-Led States Defy Trump to Push for Expanded Voter Access - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-16/some-gop-led-states-defy-trump-to-push-for-expanded-voter-access

• Election Chaos Adds Fuel to Campaign for a National Popular Vote to Elect U.S. President - https://www.democracynow.org/2020/12/15/electoral_college_national_popular_vote

• Top WA elections official threatened, doxxed after challenging Trump campaign's election misinformation - https://www.kuow.org/stories/top-washington-state-elections-official-threatened-doxxed-after-disputing-trump-campaign-s-election-misinformation

• Congress bans anonymous shell companies after long campaign by anti-corruption groups  - https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/11/anonymous-shell-company-us-ban/

• Wall Street donates millions to back Republicans in Georgia Senate race - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/15/georgia-senate-race-wall-street-donates-millions-back-republicans

• Opinion: Stop political spending by foreign-influenced U.S. firms - https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/15/opinion-stop-political-spending-by-foreign-influenced-u-s-firms/

• Seattle To Require Lobbying Group Registration, Disclosure - https://hosted.ap.org/article/8c8399b3ba0d2d864e9ea7c3cc2fc410/seattle-require-lobbying-group-registration-disclosure

• Election Commission Regains Quorum and Resumes Full Duties, Facing a Massive Backlog of Work - https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/12/election-commission-regains-quorum-and-resumes-full-duties-facing-massive-backlog-work/170680/

• Restoring the Right to Vote for People on Parole - https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/restoring-right-vote-people-parole

• Momentum builds for letting people vote while on parole - https://apnews.com/article/seattle-voting-rights-washington-elections-california-894655fd2131318c0a8afa50fee4afd0

• Voter turnout in 2020 increased the ballot initiative signature requirements in 10 states - https://news.ballotpedia.org/2020/12/15/voter-turnout-in-2020-increased-the-ballot-initiative-signature-requirements-in-10-states/

• Voting Laws Roundup 2020 - https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-2020-0

• The Five Biggest Threats Our Democracy Faces - https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/five-biggest-threats-our-democracy-faces‍
• Shining a light on the Native vote with data - https://crosscut.com/politics/2020/12/shining-light-native-vote-data

• Democracy on the Ballot 2020 - https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DemocracyontheBallot2020v1.pdf

• Building and Maintaining a Diverse and Inclusive Congressional Office - https://be7d95bd-d6a0-4c77-8537-d360198e0018.filesusr.com/ugd/5956e5_2af49a41cfd442cc88ec72471413db45.pdf

• Moving Forward Together – A transpartisan agenda to rebuild trust and tackle American’s biggest challenges - https://environmentamerica.org/sites/environment/files/reports/Moving%20Forward%20Together%20USP%20EA%20FG%20Dec%202020%20final_0.pdf
  

Democracy & the Courts:

• Trump And His Allies Have Lost Nearly 60 Election Fights In Court (And Counting) - https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/trump-election-court-losses-electoral-college

• SCOTUS Junking Trump's Election Lawsuit Shows Judicial Independence is a Necessity - https://thewire.in/law/scotus-donald-trump-lawsuit-india-supreme-court-judicial-independence

• ‘The last wall’: How dozens of judges across the political spectrum rejected Trump’s efforts to overturn the election - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judges-trump-election-lawsuits/2020/12/12/e3a57224-3a72-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html

• Liberals Were Right to Fear the Supreme Court’s Election Intervention - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/scotus-texas-trump/617376/

• Assaults on the Courts - https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/strengthen-our-courts/promote-fair-courts/assaults-courts

• The Degradation of American Democracy — And the Court - https://harvardlawreview.org/2020/11/the-degradation-of-american-democracy-and-the-court/

• Our Courts Are a Growing Threat to Democracy - https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-democracy-trump/

• The Courts v. Democracy - https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/19/the-courts-v-democracy/

• Preserving the Courts - A Comprehensive Review of How President Trump’s Attacks on the Courts Threaten Democracy - https://protectdemocracy.org/preserving-courts/

• Defining Democracy: Independent Judiciary - https://rdi.org/defining-democracy/2020/9/4/defining-democracy-independent-judiciary/

• Strengthen the Courts - https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/strengthen-our-courts

• SCOTUS & the Federal Courts - https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/strengthen-our-courts/scotus-federal-courts

• Promote Fair Courts - https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/strengthen-our-courts/promote-fair-courts

• Making the Supreme Court Safe for Democracy - Beyond packing schemes, we need to diminish the high court’s power. - https://newrepublic.com/article/159710/supreme-court-reform-court-packing-diminish-power

Supporting Georgia Senate Runoff Efforts:

• Call with the Stars – Phone banking for Georgia - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHUP4NlTugN9uQDMqdHwIR4G1LIvZkaRoB1iZX61-MDfzU5g/viewform

• New Georgia Project - https://newgeorgiaproject.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer/

• Fair Fight - https://fairfight.com/

• Common Power - https://commonpower.org/

Actions, Events & Links:

• Democracy Happy Hour Upcoming Topics:

• 12/23 - Citizen Initiative Review
• 12/30 - CANCELED for the Holidays
• 01/06 - Democracy Legislation in 2021

• Democracy Day 1 For the People - Take Action - https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/takeaction/

• FDF Donation Page - http://fixdemocracyfirst.org/donate

• Donation $35 or more to FDF and receive a FREE copy of Becoming a Democracy by Kristin Eberhard - https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/donate-book-fundraiser

• FDF Events Page - Past Events- https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/events#past-events