Barton Gellman

Verification: this is the real Barton Gellman, senior advisor at the Brennan Center, author of Dark Mirror & Angler, and former staff writer at The Atlantic and The Washington Post.

“I’m actually not terribly concerned about being prosecuted,” Lt Gov Deidre Henderson told me. “It gives me a little bit of hope when they start escalating like this. Because they’re getting a little desperate. Their attempts aren’t working.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Read this post if you're worried about securing the midterms from the Trump administration. I'm not saying it will end all your fears, but it will help to contextualize what's real and what's not.

Utah is my adopted home state — the state in which I spent most of my working life — and one thing I learned early on was to never underestimate the power of the state's women particularly its Mormon women. If they're on your side, they'll move mountains for you, if they're on the other side,

“I’m actually not terribly concerned about being prosecuted,” Lt Gov Deidre Henderson told me. “It gives me a little bit of hope when they start escalating like this. Because they’re getting a little desperate. Their attempts aren’t working.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

With less than two weeks left before the Election is over, we reran our test of major AI chatbots this past spring, to see if they've improved guardrails that could prevent the use of their products to spread election disinformation. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

My colleague Abdiaziz Ahmed on our findings that major chatbots are still making election deepfakes in the middle of the 2026 election, and what needs to be done to address this problem before 2028. www.techpolicy.press/llms-are-sti...

Voting is a means to an end, and this week our podcast guests Alma Couverthie of Common Cause and youth vote organizer Saad Amer break down what needs to happen after Election Day to keep Americans civically engaged. bit.ly/4izn0nY

NEW POLL: Overwhelming majorities of voters oppose possible efforts to disrupt or deny the midterms. The takeaway? Be ready to speak out against efforts to delay election certification or block official results — you won't be alone. Dive into the full analysis here: https://protdem.org/3UkxKgP

The next 10 days will test our democracy. Trump hasn’t been able to suppress votes systemically like he wanted to & now there's a lot going on, especially in courts. Get caught up on what you need to know now, like recent developments in California and Alaska. joycevance.substack.com/p/trumps-las...

👀

NEW from the @financialtimes.com: 70% of voters are very or somewhat concerned about self-dealing and other corruption in the Trump Admin, including 1/2 of Trump voters. This echoes our polling, which shows that corruption and affordability are linked in voters’ minds www.ft.com/content/2770...

Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson of Utah stood up to the Trump administration's efforts to obtain her state's voter rolls. She tells @bartongellman.bsky.social her story.

Still true. Even when it's the DOJ filing the papers.

A trust owned by Texas AG Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, invested in a company led by a convicted fraudster. The firm and its affiliates later sent the trust 15 payments totaling $83K before and during the AG’s impeachment trial. w/ @texastribune.org

In case to sequester 20K Calif ballots, DOJ waited till 10/15 to sue; waited till 10/19 to seek a TRO; was granted a hearing 10/27, but then demanded ruling by 10/22; when none issued, it appealed “constructive” denial 10/23. Incredibly, 9th Circ is hearing oral arg today at 4pm ET (Sunday). 1/2

I asked Henderson one day why she had chosen this provocative tone. “Am I provoking?” she replied, a little annoyed. “Now, it’s interesting that the person bringing the conflict into the light...is the one that’s considered provocative.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

<<Michael Waldman, the president of the Brennan Center, told me, “It turns out that our backstop is the fragmented nature of our political system, and federalism—that the election isn’t run by decree by any President, good or bad.”>> @lghendersonutah.bsky.social , a heroine of democracy in Utah.

In @newyorker.com , @bartongellman.bsky.social profiles Utah's Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson as she resists the Trump administration's demands for her state's voter rolls.

“If one thing has been decisive in safeguarding the nation’s electoral machinery, it is the tenacity of state officials who willingly accepted the political, financial, and personal risks of defying the President." www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

"If one thing has been decisive in safeguarding the nation’s electoral machinery, it is the tenacity of state officials who willingly accepted the political, financial, and personal risks of defying the President."

My piece on the midterms www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Voter registration deadlines are SUNDAY in Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina. And MONDAY in: Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and *Texas*. If you live in these states, verify your registration now, literally.

The Roberts Court has shaped our election system in significant ways. What will this upcoming term bring? Listen as POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein discusses the Court with Michael Waldman: bit.ly/4jA76uo

When it comes to voting rights, presidents should stay out and Congress should jump in. bit.ly/4xw0XmA

This may be of interest to @driftglass.bsky.social or @jayrosen.bsky.social. I just listened to Question Everything's replay of an interview with @bartongellman.bsky.social and it was amazing. www.kcrw.com/shows/questi...

What happens to the right to anonymous speech when accessing the internet increasingly requires proving who you are? Join CDT and STT for The Death of Online Anonymity? on Sept. 23–24. 12–2:30 PM ET | Online via Zoom Free to Register: https://foso26.cdt.org/

A 76-year-old green card holder with stage 4 cancer was arrested at his citizenship application interview and has been held by ICE for two months. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

There's A LOT of confusion about when states & localities have to cooperate w/ ICE. The short answer is that whether to cooperate largely comes down to state/local law & policy. My @brennancenter.org colleagues have a new explainer laying out the legal framework. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

“The idea wasn’t just to retroactively protect ‘the babies of slaves’; it was to prospectively forestall future efforts to deny citizenship based on whatever other non-sovereignty-based criteria might be politically popular in any given moment.” Me on why Trump’s new EO is *still* unconstitutional:

Excellent details on the NYT subpoena hearing.

A very important, if temporary, victory. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/b...

Michigan voters deserve answers for delay in opening Gordie Howe Bridge. We already had a sweetheart deal with Canada. Why are we negotiating a new one? Political donation to Trump PAC by private owner of rival bridge has created appearance of corruption. apnews.com/article/cana...

It's launch day for ON COURAGE! Maddow: “INVALUABLE. A CLASSIC OF OUR TIME.” In the dark early days of Trump II, @juliaangwin.com and I were interviewing dissidents on 5 continents, learning what Americans could do to save our republic. Where books are sold: www.harpercollins.com/products/on-...

Award-winning Somali referee Omar Artan, set to be the first from his country to officiate at the World Cup, was denied entry to the United States, a sports ministry official told AFP on Monday u.afp.com/SDH9

“What the UK government wants instead is invisible surveillance infrastructure, switched on by default and potentially rushed into law under cynical pretexts”

Americans believe corruption is a serious problem throughout politics and government. The good news: Across party lines, voters overwhelmingly support reforms to curb concentrated wealth in politics and unchecked self-enrichment by those in power. bit.ly/4apvVns

Why aren't we doing something like this in the US?

There are two big problems with the “unitary executive theory” that Trump is relying on to expand presidential power: it’s unmoored from history (i.e. completely made up) and so broad that it can’t be consistently implemented. bit.ly/4fcjO0w

Bless his heart www.al.com/news/2026/06...

Honestly, this is good because it removes any plausible deniability about the type of people Trump put in charge of his domestic paramilitary operations

It’s time for Congress to return the Supreme Court to its proper place in the U.S. constitutional system. Congress can begin by passing these six urgently needed reforms. bit.ly/4dbN1qI

So far this year, six states have enacted laws reducing barriers to voting and six have new laws making it harder. Our new roundup has the details: bit.ly/4dzRNNM

HOLY SHIT prosecutors kicked off grand jurors and then re-presented the case against the Broadview 6, then altered the grand jury transcripts to hide it from the judge. www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

An extraordinary rebuke of Todd Blanche and his Justice Department. Federal judge dismisses the indictment of Abrego Garcia (an exceedingly rare outcome in a criminal case). Finding of vindictive prosecution and "an abuse of prosecuting power." The opinion name checks Blanche nearly 30 times.

District court dismisses indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia for vindictive and selective prosecution. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...