In his new book The Court vs. The Voters: The Troubling Story of How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Voting Rights, Douglas uses nine cases – some high profile, some less so — as examples of how the high court has increasingly bent to the will of state legislatures and lawmakers.
"These are the people that we should trust the least when it comes to voting policy," Douglas says. "They're self-interested to create voting rules to help keep themselves in power, so if there's any area in which we should not defer to state legislatures, it's in voting rights."
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THE COURT V. THE VOTERS, an urgent & gripping look at the erosion of #VotingRights & its implications for democracy told through 10 SCOTUS decisions, is “a solid argument for judicial reform.”—@KirkusReviews https://t.co/XRpzeqol5m pic.twitter.com/13N0gA5r80
In the short term, Douglas says his biggest concern heading into November is how the court might insert itself or be called upon to weigh in on a contested election.
"What if it's a lot closer and we are relying on the court to issue a ruling like it did in 2000 with Bush v. Gore? Will it have the legitimacy or is it going to be resting on some of these prior precedents that curtail voting rights?" he asks.
Douglas says, in one sense, the court has already put its thumb on the scale through the delay of a decision on the Trump immunity case – one the professor says voters deserve to see conducted before the election.
As for glimmers of hope, the author and host of the Democracy Optimist podcast points to election reforms like Kentucky’s expansion of early voting that grew out of the pandemic and required cooperation between officials in both parties.
"If we can find bipartisan solutions that can have widespread buy-in, then we don't have to have litigation about these issues and we can avoid the court altogether," Douglas notes.
The Court vs. the Voters hit bookshelves this week.
Hear the full interview above.
