How Democracy Will Head to the Courts in 2023
Litigation moves slowly, so challenges to voter suppression laws and gerrymandered maps from previous years will have major updates in 2023. Here’s what to expect in courtrooms across the country.

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Litigation moves slowly, so challenges to voter suppression laws and gerrymandered maps from previous years will have major updates in 2023. Here’s what to expect in courtrooms across the country.
Happy 2023! Now that we’re out of the rapid-fire pace of election-related litigation, lawsuits will progress on a slower basis.
A lot has happened since we last looked at the state of voting rights litigation at the end of 2021. This year, there were some notable trends across dockets that impacted voters’ access to the ballot box.
We took the time to look back on what happened in the U.S. Supreme Court this year in the sphere of voting. 2022 was definitely a quiet — but still significant — year that sets the Court up for major decisions in 2023.
Since a short U.S. Supreme Court order in 2006, the Purcell principle has spiraled out of control. In 2022, a shallow invocation of “confusion” has been used to uphold gerrymandered maps and unconstitutional voting restrictions.
It’s impossible to know what would have happened under a different set of maps, it’s entirely plausible that Republicans won the House thanks to gerrymandered maps — and a few helpful assists from the courts.
This year, we saw a number of lawsuits filed against counties or cities. Here’s a roundup of some of the big themes that emerged from county-level action across the country this election cycle.
On Dec. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Moore v. Harper, a case that opens review of the fringe independent state legislature theory. Here are some takeaways from the oral argument.
We made it through the 2022 midterm elections and now 2023 is right around the corner, with December set to be a busy month.
On Dec. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Moore v. Harper. How the Court rules could shape state legislatures’ power in regulating federal elections — and the checks and balances on this power — for years to come.