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Trump has reoriented the U.S.’s geopolitical strategy, turned on our major trading partners, and allowed the world’s richest man to cut hundreds of thousands of federal workers and billions of dollars in government services. Why aren’t we in the streets?

submitted 22 hours ago • 70 comments

The valuable work of independent science should not be undermined by political leaders for political point scoring. "As my grandmother used to say: we are all entitled to our own opinions. But we are not entitled to our own facts." - beautifully put @kyleatink.bsky.social

submitted 22 hours ago • 0 comments

The way we're already pricing in authoritarianism is very, very bad. Trump is using his power as president to openly retaliate against a law firm for representing Jack Smith and it's barely news. The signal this sends is chilling to anyone who would oppose him. What else will he do to his opponents?

submitted 2 days ago • 41 comments

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” the president of the White House correspondents’ association wrote. “In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/b...

submitted 3 days ago • 124 comments

📣 NEW: #FreedomInTheWorld 2025 is now LIVE! freedomhouse.org/report/freed... Violence and repression around elections, ongoing armed conflicts, and the spread of authoritarian practices contributed to the 19th consecutive year of global freedom in decline. (1/🧵)

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

⚡ NEW REPORT - CLIMATE CHANGE & CONSTITUTIONS Topics: 🔹 Representation and Democratic Decision Making 🔹 Multi-Level Government and Climate Change 🔹 The Relevance of Constitutional Text 🔹 Litigation and Climate Change Featuring case studies from across the region ▶️ law.unimelb.edu.au/constitution...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

⚡ GREAT JOBS ALERT A new European Research Council (ERC) project looking at the effectiveness of regional human rights regimes is seeking 1 PhD and 2 Post-Docs (the latter from, or based within, the Inter-American system and the African system) ▶️ Details: acil.uva.nl/content/news...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

I heard my friend Dan here give a remarkable brief talk about this last month. Thankfully, he’s written it up at length to share.

submitted 4 days ago • 476 comments

"Young Australian women are moving sharply to the left. But unlike in many other countries, young Australian men are also shifting left, just at a slower pace" theconversation.com/i-looked-at-...

submitted 7 days ago • 24 comments

Irish lawyers and judges have been urged to show solidarity with members of the Hungarian judiciary protesting this weekend against government interference with their independence.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Kash Patel confirmed as FBI director by 51 - 49 votes. Having watched the hearings for Hegseth, RFK Jr, Gabbard and Patel, I would say that Patel's appointment is the most destructive and dangerous by far. His reign over the FBI is a huge step towards cementing full authoritarianism in the US.

submitted 8 days ago • 11 comments

#Ukraine: “Each day that Russia’s war of aggression continues, lives are lost, children’s futures are stolen, destruction spreads, and the very foundations of international law and the rules-based order come under attack,“ says the Council of Europe Secretary General 👇 🔗 www.coe.int/en/web/porta...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

🗣️ @aoc.bsky.social out fighting for the people & federal workers: “Every day our job is to wake up and say ‘what can I do today?’ — There is no act too small. Every action matters.” 🇺🇸

submitted 8 days ago • 974 comments

Trump & Musk claim they’re cutting waste, but their priorities tell a different story Jobs or money cut from feeding starving kids, fighting bird flu & protecting the nuclear arsenal—while Trump pushes for TWO new Air Force Ones when what we have now is just fine Fake populism at its finest

submitted 8 days ago • 48 comments

This is excellent from Ben Saul on the new proposed definition of terrorism from the Council of Europe. I was involved with the OSCE-ODIHR in preparing their advice to the CoE on reform of this definition and I share his concerns as to its proposed breadth. www.ejiltalk.org/the-council-...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

I beg of you: Meet the urgent need to find better ways to protest. Surely we can come up with something better than this and other variations of “bodies in the streets.” www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...

submitted 9 days ago • 34 comments

It is very strange to watch the current crackdown on opposition in Turkey while sitting in the United States. It is like watching two films following roughly the same narrative, but watching one of them at the beginning and one two hours in.

submitted 9 days ago • 5 comments

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f... ‘In Brazil coup-mongers go to jail. In the US they get back into the White House,’ says one leading politician.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

UNREAL CRUELTY. Completely senseless.

submitted 10 days ago • 72 comments

A report chaired by an epidemiologist with no scholarly background on settler colonialism is advising the university to tell students that it’s toxic to learn from its foremost historian of Israel and Palestine. jewishcurrents.org/the-perils-o...

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

This is the question to keep asking. Especially Obama, Bush, and Clinton. Whatever norms you think you're respecting no longer exist. Where are you?

submitted 11 days ago • 15 comments

Musk has wielded the power of an official who would need to be formally appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but he hasn’t gone through that constitutionally required process, the states argued. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

submitted 13 days ago • 156 comments

Our research university leaders are totally failing us in the authoritarian moment. Not even trying to loudly & publicly defend the project of academia or the institutions. Just choosing a combination of “keep our heads down” & anticipatory compliance. Shamefully inadequate to the moment.

submitted 13 days ago • 43 comments

If you’ve ever taken the oath to uphold the Constitution, this is the time to live up to it.

submitted 13 days ago • 946 comments

Want to know some things you can DO to help democracy? Read and share the weekly DemCast Partner Newsletter! It has action items from grassroots activist groups across the country! Please amplify this and check it out.

submitted 13 days ago • 5 comments

H/t Peter Treščák

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

A reminder. Democracy Docket's entire website is free. Democracy Dockets daily and weekly newsletters are sent to subscribers for free. The only thing Democracy Docket charges for is its premium content. That is how it is able to provide all of the free content to over 350,000 people every day.

submitted 12 days ago • 133 comments

If you have not been following the unfolding Trump scandal with the corrupt dismissal of the criminal case against New York Mayor Adams, here is a quick Breaking News primer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL_R...

submitted 14 days ago • 16 comments

Proud of prosecutors in SDNY and Washington who resigned rather than carry out DAG Emil Bove’s order to dismiss indictment against NYC Mayor Eric Adams. Integrity > politics and careerism.

submitted 14 days ago • 384 comments

Following developments in the US requires an appropriate soundtrack - what’s your addition? (And before anyone @s me, this is just to keep the resistance energy up) open.spotify.com/track/66Mwdl...

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

NEW VIDEO: Is the United States in a full blown constitutional crisis? I offer my thoughts as Paige and I discuss. www.youtube.com/watch?v=untZ...

submitted 16 days ago • 216 comments

"Since the major parties have nine branches, and they can take four donations per donor every three years, that means a single person or company could give $1.8 million to a major party every election cycle." live.australiainstitute.org.au

submitted 15 days ago • 14 comments

Honored to be on Democracy Now today! www.democracynow.org/2025/2/12/ki...

submitted 15 days ago • 3 comments

Hey, @UMich students. Questions or concerns about American democracy? Come to tonight’s teach-in to learn from professors of law, political science, history, and more. 7-10 pm, Angell Hall, Aud B.

submitted 15 days ago • 16 comments

The president is banning news outlets from press briefings if they don't call the Gulf of Mexico the gulf of America

submitted 16 days ago • 36 comments

Quote of the day: “The road to the authoritarian state is lined with people who advise you not to exaggerate”

submitted 16 days ago • 8 comments

My colleague Adrian Vermeule’s “Move along, nothing to see here” reading of JD Vance’s hint about defying court rulings that he thinks have improperly restricted the Executive Branch is too clever by half in light of what Trump and Musk have been openly threatening. www.wsj.com/opinion/jd-v...

submitted 16 days ago • 41 comments

The "unanimously" elected is a nice touch. Makes it even more North Korea-like.

submitted 16 days ago • 244 comments

This is an excellent, in-depth analysis of what is happening now and how to understand it from our country's leading scholars on authoritarianism. Take the time. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

submitted 16 days ago • 5 comments

“The way that they have actually done it — just kind of coming in with a sledgehammer and smashing everything — is not likely to get the courts on their side.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...

submitted 16 days ago • 80 comments

What if working within the system no longer works? Here’s a call not for revolution but for new creative forms of collective self defense. open.substack.com/pub/davidrot...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

If you've ever used the Polity data, read this from Monty Marshall. tl;dr Polity is coding recent US events as an executive self-coup and an adverse regime change.

submitted 16 days ago • 55 comments

As USAID is cancelled, those whom they supported are left vulnerable and persecuted. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

submitted 16 days ago • 2 comments

Indeed. Given his role, Elon Musk is subject to challenge as a principal Officer under Article II who must be appointed with Senate confirmation. Such a challenge is bound to be made and would need to be taken very seriously.

submitted 16 days ago • 72 comments

Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian parties & regimes

submitted 16 days ago • 42 comments

"The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown" by Profs Levitsky and Way. Answer: Electoral Autocracy coupled, I would add, with rule of law breakdown aka systemic lawlessness whenever the ruling regime feels it is warranted www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

submitted 16 days ago • 2 comments

Well worth a read constitutionnet.org/news/voices/...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 17 days ago • 884 comments

Again, every DC political journalist should be asking Speaker Johnson & SML Thune why they are completely violating their oaths of office & abdicating their Article I responsibilities. Why are they getting free passes from the press every day while the Republic is collapsing?

submitted 17 days ago • 3 comments

If this were Just Stop Oil, there'd have been dozens of arrests, furious denunciations in the billionaire press and, perhaps, long jail sentences. Farmers have a right to protest, and the police respect it. Other people, it seems, not so much. The real #TwoTierPolicing www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

submitted 17 days ago • 100 comments