Departments

Structural Reform and Governance

We work to ensure a more representative democracy that delivers results for all Americans through our government, courts, and in new digital town squares.

Volunteers help roll up a giant banner printed with the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution during a demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, October 2010, in Washington. (Getty/Chip Somodevilla)

What We're Doing

Encouraging professional diversity on the federal bench

Despite recent historic gains, professional diversity on the federal appellate courts is severely lacking, with significant implications for the legal expertise underlying judges’ decisions. Our analysis identifies policy proposals to improve the pipeline for judicial diversity.

Advancing voting rights and countering election sabotage

With states introducing hundreds of bills to disenfranchise voters, new federal election standards are vitally needed. Our research makes the case for these standards and shows how the Freedom to Vote Act would counter state laws seeking to suppress voter turnout and sabotage valid election results.

Addressing social media’s threat to our democracy

In the wake of widespread disinformation about the 2020 general election, social media companies must modify their products and policies to mitigate threats to democratic legitimacy and public safety. We identify concrete steps that could help address health and election-related disinformation.

 

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Recent Work

Latest

Compact View

The U.S. Judiciary and Democratic Backsliding: Perspectives on the Role of Courts in Autocratic Governments Past Event

The U.S. Judiciary and Democratic Backsliding: Perspectives on the Role of Courts in Autocratic Governments

Please join the Center for American Progress and Court Accountability for a discussion on the connection between courts and authoritarian movements at home and around the world.

Mears: Michigan must pass its voting rights act In the News

Mears: Michigan must pass its voting rights act

In an op-ed published by The Detroit News, Rebecca Mears urges Michigan lawmakers to pass their State Voting Rights Act before their congressional session ends on Thursday.

The Detroit News

Rebecca Mears

‘IMPOSED’ Past Event

‘IMPOSED’

A live, semi-staged reading of a topical new play.

How the Freedom to Vote Act Could Have Changed the 2024 Election In the News

How the Freedom to Vote Act Could Have Changed the 2024 Election

In an op-ed published by Democracy Docket, Greta Bedekovics illustrates how significantly the Freedom to Vote Act could have changed this year’s elections for the better if it had not been blocked by the filibuster in 2022.

Democracy Docket

Greta Bedekovics

Reforming Elections for a Better Democracy: Alaska as a Case Study Video

Reforming Elections for a Better Democracy: Alaska as a Case Study

This video about Alaska’s “Final Four” election system brings together Alaskan legislative leaders from across the aisle to discuss how this system works and early results indicating this reform can create a more representative democracy, decrease polarization, and help incentivize consensus building and more bipartisan governing.

CAP Changemakers: Reforming the Courts Past Event

CAP Changemakers: Reforming the Courts

This conversation with Devon Ombres and Jake Faleschini highlights CAP’s role in the current movement to reform the courts in an effort to make justice more fair and transparent.

The Power of One Vote Report
A voter casts their ballot at a high school in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Power of One Vote

Elections help determine the quality of the air Americans breathe, the water they drink, and everything else in between; and more often than people realize, these elections come down to just a handful of votes.

Rebecca Mears, Zachary Geiger

We can mend our national division In the News

We can mend our national division

In an op-ed published by The Baltimore Sun, Michael Sozan, Cissy Jackson, and the Cato Institute’s Walter Olson offer guidance on how to turn down the temperature in this fraught political moment.

The Baltimore Sun

Michael Sozan, Cissy Jackson, Walter Olson

From Open to Opaque Past Event

From Open to Opaque

Shedding Light on the Impact of Meta’s Imminent CrowdTangle Shutdown

The Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Case, the Threat to Democracy, and the Path Forward Past Event

The Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Case, the Threat to Democracy, and the Path Forward

Please join the Center for American Progress for a virtual event that will address the threats the current U.S. Supreme Court and a future president could pose to the foundation of American democracy.

Project 2025 Would End DHS Law Enforcement Training Article
U.S. Capitol Police recruits work out in a line

Project 2025 Would End DHS Law Enforcement Training

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers would be collateral damage in Project 2025’s proposed dismantling of the Department of Homeland Security.

Tom Moore

The Supreme Court Has Fully Embraced an Antidemocratic, Right-Wing Agenda Article
The U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court Has Fully Embraced an Antidemocratic, Right-Wing Agenda

The Supreme Court has taken off its mask this term by creating unconstitutional de facto immunity for future presidents who act illegally and by gutting the ability of public agencies and Congress to protect Americans from abuse by right-wing special interests.

Devon Ombres

Lowering Costs for American Families Past Event

Lowering Costs for American Families

Join CAP for a conversation with Neera Tanden, Domestic Policy Advisor to President Joe Biden.

Fact Sheet: Recommendations for the White House To Take Further Action on AI Fact Sheet
President Joe Biden sits at a table with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to the right Arati Prabhakar to the left.

Fact Sheet: Recommendations for the White House To Take Further Action on AI

This fact sheet offers recommendations for how the White House, including the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, can utilize its authorities to address artificial intelligence (AI).

Taking Action on AI Today and in the Future Past Event

Taking Action on AI Today and in the Future

Please join Governing for Impact and the Center for American Progress in an event discussing how agencies can deploy existing statutory authorities to take further action on AI.

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