Politics
August 3, 2018 -
No chapter of the national Poor People's Campaign has faced bigger barriers in confronting state officials than Kentucky's, but it's soldiering on with a focus on voter mobilization and political education.
August 2, 2018 -
State supreme court seats across the South are up for grabs this year, and contributions are pouring into partisan races. What does the research tell us about the effects of big-money politics on the judiciary?
July 30, 2018 -
North Carolina lawmakers recently called a special session to make major changes to election ballots. The changes aim to influence the outcome of the state Supreme Court election and referenda on constitutional amendments that would give the legislature more power.
July 20, 2018 -
With President Trump nominating a judge with a record of hostility to voting rights to the U.S. Supreme Court, state courts and constitutions are likely to play an increasingly critical role in protecting those rights — but those institutions are under political assault by conservatives.
July 20, 2018 -
President Trump recently commuted the federal prison sentence of Alice Marie Johnson of Tennessee, who was serving life without parole for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. The move came after a decade of effort by criminal justice reform advocates, who now see hope for more systemic change in a bill that's been introduced in Congress by a key GOP leader.
July 19, 2018 -
A campaign to encourage politicians to reject contributions from electric utility monopolies aims to recast Virginia politics-as-usual as unethical. Though the pledge effort is meeting opposition from those who benefit under the current conflict-ridden system, it's still going strong — and has spread beyond the state.
July 16, 2018 -
The public has until July 31 to weigh in on a proposal to bar key federal funding from family planning service providers who so much as mention abortion to patients. The policy would have a disproportionate impact on the health of poor women and women of color in the South.
