Democracy

States need independent agencies with jurisdiction to enforce their residents’ rights so the valuation of those rights are evenhanded and not subject to political will.

This Anti-Corruption Tracker focuses on the erosion or dismantling of oversight and accountability systems within the United States Executive Branch.

As a federal-level accountability desert forms, states are reviving "collateral accountability" — damages suits against federal officers who violate constitutional rights.

States must be vigilant stewards of their data — auditing what they hold, limiting what they share, and enforcing legal constraints against federal overreach.

Lessons from Nixon's forgotten essay in defense of his infamous remark.

States have constitutional protections against commandeering and coercion — but face a new challenge when the federal government sidelines states completely.

State and local governments have constitutional and legal powers that can be harnessed to challenge repressive federal actions and to advance meaningful freedom and equality.

Tracking the use of State power requires systematically identifying linkages between individual developments and broader trends. This interactive graphic offers one method.

Bringing together expert analysis that traces this erosion, assesses the risks for democratic governance, and outlines pathways to rebuild or even reinvent these safeguards.

Our democratic institutions are under strain, but one thing must be true if any reform is to take hold: government must deliver, and that delivery must be felt by all people.

America’s civil service, built for a bygone era, urgently needs bold, comprehensive reform to build a government capable of delivering for the 21st century.

Domestic policy experts offer principles for reinvention meant to inform the work of policymakers, advocates, and governance rebuilders as they redesign federal institutions.