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Democratic Backslide a Threat to Free Elections Globally
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Democratic Backslide a Threat to Free Elections Globally

Over half of the 60 countries holding national elections this year are experiencing a democratic decline, risking the integrity of the electoral process, as reported in the latest Democracy Report from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg. The worsening election quality is concerning, given the pivotal role elections play in either reinforcing or...

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The Constitution Sets Some Limits on the People’s Choices for President – but the Supreme Court Rules It’s Unconstitutional for State Governments to Decide on Trump’s Qualifications

When the Supreme Court ruled on March 4, 2024, that former President Donald Trump could appear on state presidential ballots for the 2024 election, it did not address an idea that seemed simple and compelling when Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised it during the Feb. 8, 2024, oral arguments in the case: “What about the idea...

Sex, Lies, and Fulton County
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Sex, Lies, and Fulton County

The evidence does not support disqualifying District Attorney Fani Willis. But Nathan Wade needs to step aside. As television drama, it could not have been more riveting: one part Perry Mason, one part General Hospital, and one part House of Cards. It featured damaging testimony suggesting that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis might not...

Disinformation: A Back Pocket Guide
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Disinformation: A Back Pocket Guide

A review of Lee McIntyre, “On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy” (MIT 2023) In his 1962 book, “The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America,” future Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin predicted a time in which our ability to technologically shape reality would become so sophisticated that our creations would...

Study Shows Background Checks Don’t Always Check Out
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Study Shows Background Checks Don’t Always Check Out

Employers making hiring decisions, landlords considering possible tenants and schools approving field trip chaperones all widely use commercial background checks. But a new multi-institutional study co-authored by a University of Maryland researcher shows that background checks themselves can’t be trusted. Assistant Professor Robert Stewart of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Associate Professor Sarah Lageson...

First Amendment Disequilibrium: Can Modernizing Outdated First Amendment Doctrines Enhance Democracy?
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First Amendment Disequilibrium: Can Modernizing Outdated First Amendment Doctrines Enhance Democracy?

New legal protections are needed to empower the media to play its vital role in informing citizens about their government.  The press and the executive branch routinely battle over access to government secrets. Frequently reporters seek to extract information the government would prefer to withhold and to withhold information the government would prefer to extract....

Biden Administration Pressured Amazon to Censor Books That Questioned Covid Vaccines
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Biden Administration Pressured Amazon to Censor Books That Questioned Covid Vaccines

Senior Biden administration aides summoned Amazon officials to the White House during the height of the pandemic to discuss “propaganda and misinformation” in books for sale on the retail giant’s website that questioned the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. White House officials “spent a week berating Amazon” in March 2021 over books related to “vaccine misinformation” and asked what steps...

On Medicalized Rape at CIA Secret Prisons, the ‘Medical Profession Should Not Stand Silent’
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On Medicalized Rape at CIA Secret Prisons, the ‘Medical Profession Should Not Stand Silent’

In a new JAMA viewpoint, Boston University School of Public Health researchers Sondra Crosby and Leonard Glantz denounce rectal feeding practices that occurred at these prisons, and call for medical officers who enabled this “medicalized rape” to be held accountable for violating ethical and legal standards. Nearly 10 years ago, a US Senate Intelligence committee report detailed for the first time the horrors of forced rectal...

Inequity in U.S. Wildfire Emergency Response
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Inequity in U.S. Wildfire Emergency Response

Recent U.S. wildfire events — including the 2023 Maui wildfire in Hawaii, the 2022 Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire in New Mexico, and the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado — are tragic examples of how disadvantaged communities can suffer most during and after a wildfire. While all three fires had a devastating impact on an...