Democracy Updates

Supreme Court Rulings

LWV issued an urgent statement following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara, which upheld birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. While the decision is a vital victory for constitutional democracy, the League warns that the razor-thin margin should alarm every American.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down limits on coordinated political party spending upheld in the Court’s landmark 2001 Colorado II decision, turning parties into conduits for huge contributions to benefit individual candidates.
In a combined decision, the Supreme Court allowed states to deny transgender girls and women the right to participate in school sports, effectively blessing state laws requiring intrusive proof of "biological sex" to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.
LWV and the League of Women Voters of Alabama issued a statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing the Alabama Legislature’s gerrymandered 2023 congressional map to be used in the 2026 election cycle.
The Supreme Court upheld voters’ rights and permitted Mississippi ballots that are cast on time to be counted after Election Day according to state law, in a suit brought by LWV and partners.

Voting Rights

A federal court declared key portions of President Trump’s executive order restricting mail voting unconstitutional, barring federal agencies from using the order to interfere with state voter rolls or mail voting. It also blocked the USPS from withholding mail ballots from voters.
Victory! A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to end a government database that consolidates millions of Americans’ sensitive and legally protected personal information, in League of Women Voters v. US Department of Homeland Security.
A Federal District Court heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by LWV, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, and others challenging President Trump’s executive order concerning mail-in voting; in another case, a federal court ruled that nonpartisan voting rights groups could continue with their legal challenge to President Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting.
The New Hampshire federal court struck down the state’s anti-voter documentary proof of citizenship law, declaring it unconstitutional.

Immigration Rights

LWV strongly condemns Congress’s passage of the budget reconciliation package that allocates billions of additional taxpayer dollars to ICE and CBP without any accountability or protections.
The LWV and the League of Women Voters of New Jersey stand in solidarity with the strikers and echo calls for the immediate closure of Delaney Hall and the release of the detainees.

Learn More in our Newsroom

The League in Community

Celina Stewart Named Practitioner-in-Residence

League CEO Celina Stewart, Esq., a nationally recognized voting rights attorney and champion of American democracy, has been named by Northeastern Law’s Judith Olans Brown Forum for Women in the Law (WIL) as its Practitioner-in-Residence for 2026-2027.

She will visit the law school on November 17-19, 2026. While in residence at Northeastern, Stewart will share her expertise and insights as one of the country’s leading voices on voting rights, election law, and the defense of democratic institutions.

Celina Stewart on USPS & Mail Ballots

In a statement to The Hill regarding the Postmaster general’s remarks on mail ballots, Celina Stewart, Esq. said, ““The comments that he made are particularly concerning because voting is a right, and now it’s being presented as like this risk profile, and when access to the ballot starts being treated as suspicious behavior, which I think is the underlying thing here, democracy itself starts to be audited, I think, which is really problematic.” You can read more here.