⚖️ Supreme Court Accountability | April 13, 2026

This week’s Supreme Court accountability stories show how much is riding on the courts right now. As warnings grow that the U.S. Supreme Court could further weaken protections against racial discrimination in voting and threaten rules that help absentee ballots count, legal experts also say the Court’s recent conversion-therapy ruling could invite new First Amendment attacks on health care safeguards. At the same time, voters in Wisconsin expanded their state Supreme Court’s liberal majority to 5-2, and the California Supreme Court stepped in to halt a sheriff’s ballot investigation and preserve the ballots he seized. People Power United is tracking it all because when courts decide whether votes count, ballots stay protected, and patient protections survive, silence is not accountability.

• 🚫 Take action: Tell the Supreme Court: Trump is not above the law

• 📜 Take action: Tell Congress to pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act

• ⚖️ Take action: Tell the Supreme Court to enforce the new ethics code

• 🗳️ Bonus action: Register to vote, vote in every election, and help your community do the same. Reproductive freedom is won and lost at the ballot box.

• 👑 Bonus action: Sign up for the next national No Kings Day of Action and show up in solidarity with everyone whose rights are under attack.

• A new analysis warns the Supreme Court could further weaken what remains of the Voting Rights Act, putting protections against racial discrimination and absentee-ballot rights at risk. That matters because voting rights are only real when they can be enforced. When the Court narrows those protections again, the people most targeted will pay first. Thruthout

• Chris Taylor’s Wisconsin Supreme Court victory expanded the court’s liberal majority to 5-2 in one of the country’s most important swing states. That matters because this court could shape rulings on redistricting, union rights, and election rules for years. When judicial races shift the balance of power, ordinary voters feel it long after Election Day. The Hill

• The California Supreme Court ordered a sheriff to pause his ballot investigation and preserve the ballots he seized. That matters because the court is stepping in to stop a local official from handling election materials outside the normal process. When ballots are treated like props in a political fight, trust in elections starts to break. Seattle Times

• After the Supreme Court’s conversion-therapy ruling, legal experts warn more health care laws could be attacked under the First Amendment. That matters because rules meant to protect patients from fraud, coercion, or harmful treatment may now face new legal pressure. When public health safeguards get reframed as speech restrictions, patients can lose protection fast. Huffpost

These stories show that the courts are not operating on the sidelines of democracy. They are shaping whether voting rights can still be enforced, whether seized ballots are protected from political interference, whether swing-state courts will defend fair maps and election rules, and whether laws meant to protect patients can survive a new wave of ideological attacks. When the Supreme Court weakens the Voting Rights Act or opens the door to broader First Amendment challenges against health care protections, the harm does not stay theoretical. It lands first on the people already most vulnerable to discrimination, disenfranchisement, and denied care.

But this week also shows that outcomes are not fixed. Wisconsin voters helped strengthen a state Supreme Court that could influence redistricting, union rights, and election rules for years. California’s Supreme Court stepped in to stop a sheriff from treating ballots like political props. That is the bigger lesson: courts can be used to erode rights, but they can also be pushed to uphold them when people are paying attention, organizing, and refusing to let power operate without scrutiny. Silence will not protect democracy. Public pressure, participation, and people power still matter.

A Supreme Court without accountability doesn’t just fail the people — it actively transfers power from the many to the few.

This is why expanding the Court, establishing 18-year term limits, and adopting a binding ethics code with real enforcement aren’t radical demands. They are the minimum conditions for a judiciary that can legitimately claim equal justice under law.

• Expand the Court to restore balance

• Set term limits to end lifetime partisanship

• Adopt a binding ethics code with real enforcement

Reform isn’t radical — it’s necessary.

Take Action: Tell Your Member of Congress: Expand the Supreme Court to protect our voting and civil rights, create term limits, and institute a code of ethics

Justice belongs to the people.

Together, we can champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people’s will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.

Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests) Leader, People Power United

People Power United | In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry!

This is our moment to rise, resist, and reclaim our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy. Millions of Americans are already refusing to back down — in the streets, at the ballot box, and in their communities.

Every movement that was ever won started with people who refused to quit. We are those people.

The future is not lost. It is being built — by us, right now.