Profile

Trump hoped for big gains when he pressured GOP-led states to redraw their maps this year. But many developments have brought this battle closer to a draw. Just how much of a draw? Learn more in our latest “Ask Bolts”:

Bolts

The Escalating Race to Redistrict: Your Questions Answered - Bolts

How are the new maps changing the midterms? Why are courts not doing more? Would proportional representation help? We’ve got answers about mid-de...

Advocates in California will continue to push for relief for people convicted of harming their abusers. “Survivors are resilient, and there’s so many left behind, and so many that this bill would have helped.”

Bolts

For Third Year, California Kills Bill to Help Incarcerated Domestic Violence Survivors - Bolts

Advocates in California have pushed for relief for people convicted of harming their abuser, hoping to build on states across the political spectru...

Eileen Higgins has won the Miami mayoral election tonight. The Democrat has prevailed by a large margin over Emilio González, who had the support of President Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis, and she will replace a retiring Republican.

Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Eileen Higgins shatters glass ceiling with runoff victory in Miami Mayor’s race

The runoff drew national attention.

This fall, Hawaii's supreme court rejected an argument that recording interrogations is burdensome for police: “If children can record everyday events with ease, law enforcement cannot claim hardship to record perhaps its most consequential investigative act.”

Bolts

Hawaii Supreme Court Expands Rights of Defendants, and Once Again Rebukes SCOTUS - Bolts

The justices ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations. And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii resident...

Katie Wilson, Seattle’s newly elected mayor, has embraced a city-owned startup designed to emulate Vienna’s social housing model, which involves a public developer building housing designed to be permanently affordable.

Bolts

Progressives Win in Seattle, Changing Directions on Public Safety - Bolts

Voters ousted a mayor who oversaw a surge in encampment sweeps, and a Republican prosecutor who pursued punitive policies toward homeless people an...

Rejon Taylor was granted clemency by President Biden and taken off of federal death row last year. Trump officials are now sending him to a notoriously harsh supermax prison and Taylor says he wishes he was never granted clemency to begin with.

Bolts

Death Row Prisoners Granted Clemency by Biden Brace for "Living Hell" Under Trump - Bolts

Trump officials are retaliating by imposing the harshest conditions in the entire federal prison system, including near total isolation.

Chicago police are required by law to document every time they pull someone over. But an investigation by Bolts and Injustice Watch last year revealed the department failed to report hundreds of thousands of stops.

Bolts

Chicago Police Made Nearly 200,000 Secret Traffic Stops Last Year

Chicago police are required by law to report every traffic stop. But a new investigation found one-third of traffic stops went unreported.

Advocates in New Jersey are asking lawmakers to enshrine into law a state directive restricting cooperation with ICE. “It’s in the hands of the current legislature and the current governor, and you know, we need them to step up and get it passed.”

Bolts

Immigration Protections Are Uncertain in New Jersey even as Democrats Keep Governorship - Bolts

Advocates want to promptly codify the limits on immigration enforcement put in place by the outgoing governor. Mikie Sherill, Tuesday’s winner, h...

Three Democratic justices prevailed last week in Pennsylvania. Justice David Wecht told Bolts, “We all campaigned on the basis of vindicating the Pennsylvania constitution’s free and equal elections clause.”

Bolts

Democrats Retain Control of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court with Three-Seat Sweep - Bolts

The GOP mounted an unusual push to oust three supreme court justices and erase Democrats’ majority on the court. All three prevailed easily in Tu...

The charge of “felony murder” allows defendants to be charged with the death of an accomplice, even when the killing was committed by someone else. Between 2009 and 2017, 83 percent of people charged with felony murder in Alabama were Black.

Bolts

A Friend's Death to Mourn, and to Serve Time for - Bolts

An Alabama teen was shot alongside his friend, then prosecuted for his killing. His case highlights a particularly harsh doctrine in American crimi...