Cases and Points

This Week in Democracy 

• A federal judge in Arizona declined to dismiss criminal charges against Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd. The supervisors refused to certify the results of the 2022 midterm elections until they were ordered to by a judge.
• President Biden and former President Trump agreed to the rules and format of their upcoming debate. The debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET next Thursday, June 27, on CNN.
• Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked a judge to leave Trump’s gag order in place, preventing the former president from targeting witnesses, jurors, and others involved in the case. Prosecutors said that more than 50 threats were made against Bragg, his family, and his employees since April.
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Election Assistance Commission released a new guide to help election officials protect elections by communicating with the public.
• The Brennan Center for Justice released a new guide to the federal and state laws that protect voters and election workers from intimidation.

State of the States 

In Michigan, the state supreme court ruled that two activists who are charged with attempting to discourage Black voters from voting in 2020 can be prosecuted. John Burkman and Jacob Wohl were charged in October 2020, after they allegedly organized and financed a robocall that falsely said voting by mail would enter voters’ information into a database and track them. Burkman and Wohl argued to the Michigan Supreme Court that the robocall was protected speech under the First Amendment, an argument the court rejected. They will now face charges that they “bribed or intimidated voters” at a lower court.