Defending Democracy with Marc Elias

In a major win for free and fair elections, a federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing key parts of Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting order. In this episode, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down Judge Indira Talwani’s critical ruling and reveals how it will impact the midterm elections. Plus, Marc explains why Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results is at the heart of the b...

The Supreme Court just ruled that legal challenges to Donald Trump's anti-voting executive order were filed too soon, but the fight is just getting started. The U.S. Postal Service has since finalized a rule that could block your mail-in ballot unless your state hands over sensitive voter data to the federal government. In this episode, Democracy Docket's Marc Elias breaks down where the fight is headed next, from courts in Massach...

The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration, allowing its executive order targeting mail-in voting to move forward ahead of the 2026 midterms. In this episode, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the conservative majority’s ruling and their claim that the potential harm was "speculative." Plus, he calls out the major contradiction at the center of the case: while the court ruled the suit was prematur...

Just over 70 days before the midterms, Donald Trump's Postal Service quietly issued a final rule on mail-in voting late Friday night. Buried inside it, USPS compares your mail ballot to cremated human remains and fake explosives. Yes, you read that right. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down how we got here and explains what happens next as the rule heads toward taking effect on August 26 and the fight continues at both ...

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon just announced the Justice Department will deploy 1,000 election observers for the midterms. The DOJ wants you to think this is business as usual, but Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down why this deployment is anything but and how it's laying the groundwork for what comes after Election Day. Meanwhile, it's no surprise the announcement comes the same day the DOJ lost its 23rd s...

With less than 90 days until the 2026 midterm elections, Trump may have finally found a lawyer with no limits — and Todd Blanche is only getting started.
In this episode of "Election Watch," Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general and why he compares Blanche to Trump's ruthless former lawyer, Roy Cohn. Plus some good news: the Department of Justice is now 0-21 in cour...

After a victory for Colorado voters, the DOJ is now 0-20 in the voter roll cases -- and we are winning. In this episode, Marc Elias breaks down the Trump administration's yearlong effort to build a national voter database, why federal judges (including eight appointed by Trump) have unanimously rejected the DOJ's demands, and why today's 90-day "quiet period" deadline may have shut the door on Trump's scheme just in time for the mi...

Earlier this year, Texas quietly admitted to the federal government that non-citizens had been mistakenly registered to vote there due to clerical errors, the same kind of mistake now fueling outrage over New Jersey. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down what actually happened in both states, why neither is proof of the voter fraud conspiracy Republicans are selling, and why the SAVE Act and voter ID laws wouldn't have st...

Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down why elections are a game of inches, and why the GOP's real 2026 strategy is making it harder to vote and easier to cheat. He walks through the RNC's own lawsuit admitting late mail ballots favor Democrats, the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling against them, and another win in Kansas protecting mail voters. We can't get complacent. Only 19 states protect these ballots, and a lot is on the lin...

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin just admitted it: Real ID doesn't prove citizenship. In this video, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the 15-word slip that exposes the real goal of Trump's voter ID push and why only two documents actually prove citizenship — documents that many Americans don't have. It's a policy that hits Black voters and married women hardest, and the Election Integrity Network's ...

Trump gave a speech Thursday night packed with recycled 2020 grievances and zero new evidence. But buried at the end was a directive every voter should be paying attention to before 2026. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down what Trump actually said, why his claims about Chinese hacking, "vulnerable" voting machines and noncitizen voting don't hold up, and what he's really setting up: a partisan purge of voter rolls befo...

The Supreme Court just closed out its most consequential term in a generation — gutting the Voting Rights Act, ending 90 years of independent agency precedent and testing the limits of presidential power.
Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias hosted a panel of legal experts to break down the key decisions shaping democracy: Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who argued Louisiana v. ...

Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down Trump's firing of the remaining commissioners at the Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency that certifies voting equipment, administers a national backup voter registration form and provides expertise and training to state election officials. It's now legally paralyzed months before the 2026 midterms. Marc argues Trump likely has two main motives: sidelining nonpartisan e...

Marc Elias sits down with Brian Tyler Cohen to discuss his new book, "The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World," which makes the case that Democrats need to fight harder and prioritize outcomes over institutional deference. They break down the Supreme Court's latest term and the case for court reform, but also dig into the bigger argument: that clinging to norms like the filibuster risks squandering a rare chance to ...

The Supreme Court's term just ended, and the results were mixed for voting rights. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the wins — including a 5-4 ruling protecting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day — and the losses, including Louisiana v. Callais, which gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and the Slaughter case, which lets Trump fire independent agency officials at will (except at the Federal...