Derek Clinger, Senior Counsel PDF Available Here Published: December 19, 2025 Update: On January 15, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed the Justice Department’s complaint against California on all …
Multi-state
Explainer: State Tools to Address Federal Corruption
Bryna Godar, Staff Attorney PDF Available Here Published: December 9, 2025 Federal laws and institutions have long played a central role in addressing public corruption. Federal prosecutors have brought cases involving a range of officials …
Explainer: Can States Prohibit Federal Law Enforcement from Masking on the Job?
Bridget Lavender, Staff Attorney PDF Available Here Published: October 3, 2025 Updated: January 29, 2025 Introduction As the federal government ramps up immigration enforcement under President Trump’s second administration, federal agents sometimes conduct operations while …
Exploring State Checks Against Federal Overreach
Published: August 8, 2025 Updated: January 29, 2026 States have many tools to help counter federal abuses of power. Facing a torrent of controversial federal government actions, states today are pursuing or considering an array …
Explainer: State-Created Damages Remedies Against Federal Officials
Harrison Stark, Senior Counsel PDF Available Here Published: August 1, 2025 (previous August 1, 2025 version available here) Updated: February 9, 2026 Introduction & Summary What recourse do people have if federal agents violate their …
Explainer: Can States Prosecute Federal Officials?
Bryna Godar, Staff Attorney PDF Available Here Published: July 17, 2025 As state and local officials increasingly clash with federal officials over immigration enforcement,[1] policing of protests,[2] and much more,[3] they could soon turn to …
Election Matters 2025 | Year in Review: Democracy Litigation in SCOTUS and the States
On July 10 the State Democracy Research Initiative and the Elections Research Center at UW-Madison hosted the second event in our Election Matters 2025 series: “Year in Review: Democracy Litigation in SCOTUS and the States,” …
Election-Litigation Data: 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 State and Federal Court Filings
Following the 2024 election, we updated our survey of election-related lawsuits to help understand the role of litigation in our elections. This update underscores key themes from our survey of litigation from 2018 to 2022: litigants continue …