2024 Elections

Twenty-Nine States Have a Not-So-Secret Weapon to Fight for Democracy

As the Trump administration’s attacks on women’s rights, reproductive access and LGBTQ equality continue in force, state executive leaders have emerged as potent frontline responders.

Among the tools in states’ arsenals are often underused state-level equal rights amendments (ERAs). Even as the federal ERA remains in limbo, an unlikely bulwark for the next four years—see professor Laurence Tribe’s Contrarian piece explaining its legal status—29 states have some form of an ERA (e.g., broader sex equality language than the U.S. Constitution) written into their constitutions. Several have already been used to advance abortion rights (Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Mexico); many are broadly worded and inclusive of protection against pregnancy discrimination, age, disability and immigration status. Issues such as pay transparency and addressing gender-based violence also could be bolstered by a state ERA.

Break Things and Leave Them Broken: The Next Stage for Fired Federal Workers

Federal judges ordered the reinstatement of workers terminated based on their probationary status—a blow to the Trump administration. But for many fired feds, this welcome news does not mean a return to work. For me and most of my colleagues in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, for instance, we will continue to receive our pay and benefits, but we won’t be allowed to work. One might think that this is a pretty good deal—but only if you don’t know federal employees.

Some of my colleagues shared with me their stories of uncertainty, loss and an unfinished mission to serve the public.

—My first colleague, a change management specialist, was nervous about rumored changes to the federal workforce, but buoyed by the encouragement of his mentors who said, “This is your dream. The way you light up, this is the thing we want in federal employees. Roll the dice, go for it.”
—Another, a policy analyst specializing in children’s issues, said she was living out her dream job. When she found out she was fired, she was on bedrest for a high-risk pregnancy. In a cruel twist of fate, it was Valentine’s Day … and also the anniversary of her previous stillbirth.

Could Low-Wage White Workers Spark Trump’s Undoing?

With time, the resistance movement against Trump’s dangerous agenda will grow to include low-wage white workers, a third of whom live in the South and were perhaps initially pro-Trump, according to a prediction from Bishop William Barber II.

“The only way a king becomes a king is if you bow. And we cannot bow,” Barber said. “Bowing is not in our DNA. We have to stand in this moment.”

Trump’s Speech to Congress Shows the Working Class Is on Their Own 

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President Trump’s first seven weeks back in office have been spent abandoning the American people—tearing apart vital programs, withholding funds that save lives and purging the federal workforce. Last Tuesday, he addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time in his second term. Throughout the speech, he boasted about abandoning international agreements, expediting environmental deregulation and gutting federal resources.

Montana Lawmakers Vote Down Bill That Would Have Treated Cross-Border Abortion Seekers as Traffickers of Their ‘Unborn Children’

On Nov. 5, 2024, Montana voters decisively approved a ballot initiative enshrining the right to abortion up until fetal viability (about 24 weeks gestation) in the state Constitution.

On Monday, Feb. 24, Montana Republicans introduced a radical antiabortion “trafficking” bill that would have made seeking an out-of-state abortion after viability, or simply helping someone get one, a felony.

Late on Thursday, Feb. 27, after intense and emotional committee hearings, eight Democratic lawmakers joined eight Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to vote down the bill, HB 609. Four Republicans still voted in support of it.

Presidents’ Day and the Legacy of Exclusion: Why Women Still Struggle for the Oval Office

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Presidents’ Day often conjures images of our founding fathers, men whose legacies in history books portray them as heroic figures. Yet, these white men confined themselves to rooms of power, shutting the doors behind them and leaving the majority of society—women, marginalized groups and nonconforming individuals—without a seat at the table, effectively denying them power and influence.

Let us move forward with purpose, amplifying the voices of women, demanding equality and working toward a future where the presidency is no longer an unattainable dream but a reality.

Against the Normalization of Trump’s Misogyny

In just over two weeks, an emboldened and angry Donald Trump, restored to power, has plunged the federal government into chaos and threatened the rule of law, separation of powers, and other core tenets of American democracy.

It’s important for people to stand up and take action in real time, and do whatever they can—through lawsuits, legislative action and public protest—to block the implementation of immoral and illegal policies. But let’s take a moment to step back and ponder a broader question: Trump’s legitimacy as the nation’s leader, and what that means in terms of social norms, or what effect Trump’s behavior has on what it means to be normal.

Trump’s Administration Seems Chaotic, But He’s Drawing Directly from Project 2025 Playbook

In his first few days back in office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of executive actions, from exiting the World Health Organization to deploying military personnel and National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Many of these actions are unprecedented. Some appear to be illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal experts and judges. But none of them should come as a surprise—nearly all of them were outlined in 2022 in a plan called Project 2025.

In North Carolina, an Attempt to Overturn a State Supreme Court Election

The losing candidate for a seat on the high court is trying to have more than 60,000 valid votes thrown out.

In a dispute that is attracting national attention, Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court and judge on the state intermediate court, is seeking to invalidate more than 60,000 votes and overturn the electoral win of his opponent, Justice Allison Riggs.

The dispute stems from November’s state supreme court election, which Griffin lost by just 734 votes. The crux of Griffin’s argument is a claim that the state board of elections has been breaking state election law for decades by following an incorrect process for registering voters, including failing to require voters to provide a driver’s license or social security information and wrongfully allowing certain overseas and absentee ballots to be submitted without photo identification.

Rolling Up Our Sleeves, Part 1: Fighting the New Trump Administration’s Wave of Extremist Actions

After a narrow political victory in November, a second Trump administration is now threatening to reverse decades of hard-fought gains for women and girls. Luckily, a fierce feminist resistance is ready to defend women’s rights at the federal level—and creatively expand equality protections in the states.

This is the first in a four-part series on the steps activists are taking to fight for our rights amid Trump’s attacks on democracy.