Resources
Working papers
A collection of papers authored by respected authors analyzing the issues facing our democracy and proposing solutions. Topics include Increasing Trust in Our Elections, Political Reforms to Combat Extremism, Keeping the Administration of Our Elections from Becoming Politized, and Decreasing the Political Polarization of the American Public.
*Use the arrows below to explore more working papers.
September 10, 2025
Report of the ABA Task Force for American Democracy
Co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh C. Johnson and retired federal appellate Judge J. Michael Luttig, the task force assembled distinguished leaders from across the legal, business, academic, and civic sectors. The report calls for immediate and sustained action to bolster public confidence in American democracy, including major reforms to elections, civics education, and the role of lawyers in defending constitutional governance.
May 6, 2024
The State of Democracy Education in Law Schools
Jacob Williams and Sydney Grell
Democracy plays an indispensable role within the context of law school education by emphasizing its multifaceted influence on fostering critical legal thinking, shaping ethical values, and preparing students for active participation in the legal system.
May 6, 2024
Reinvigorating American Democracy – A Youth Perspective
Katherine Moss and Nisha Lee
The United Nations consolidated a list of fundamental requirements for a democracy. So perhaps a starting point for defining American Democracy is to go through each requirement in the UN’s list and explain how American Democracy satisfies each requirement
May 6, 2024
Political Reforms to Combat Extremism
Richard H. Pildes
This Working Paper identifies and discusses a variety of institutionally focused ideas to reduce extremism in American politics. In looking at the sources of extremism, there are both top-down sources (meaning the actions and rhetoric of those hold public office, in particular) as well as bottom-up sources (meaning extremism that emerges in the larger political culture).
- Page 1
Background papers
A collection of papers giving background on a variety of topics, including Why Democracy and How Does the First Amendment Right of Free Speech Intersect with Democracy?
*Use the arrows below to explore more background papers.
May 6, 2024
Democracy: The Rule of Law and Human Rights
Nisha Lee and Katherine Moss
The Rule of Law is a foundational principle of American Democracy and plays a critical role in ensuring the democracy functions properly. The rule of law grants authority to the government to operate and restricts that authority to protect citizens from arbitrary exercise of power.
May 6, 2024
How Does the First Amendment Right of Free Speech Intersect with Democracy?
Jennifer Cook Purcell
The First Amendment, which among other things protects an American’s right to free speech, was added to the Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights to strengthen an individual’s civil liberties against governmental interference. It is integral to a healthy democracy and has been historically valued by Americans and protected by American courts.
May 6, 2024
Why Democracy?
Nisha Lee and Katherine Moss
Governance by democracy, or the active participation of citizens in self-rule, originated in ancient Athens. Indeed, our word ‘democracy’ stems from the Greek for people (demos) and rule (kratos). Democracy in ancient Athens was not inclusive, but limited to free men who were citizens of Athens; women, slaves, children, and non-citizens had no vote.
- Page 1
Democracy database
A synopsis of and links to a host of law review articles, op-eds, commission reports and scholarly articles on democracy, improving trust in our elections, decreasing political polarization, improving the voting experience and related topics.
*Scroll below to see more entries in the database.
Artificial Intelligence’s Threat to Democracy
Jen Easterly, Scott Schwab, and Cait Conley, Foreign Affairs
January 3, 2024
This article examines ways in which artificial intelligence might be deployed to undermine trust in democratic elections, and it proposes steps that agencies, companies, and individuals should take to prevent AI threats.
Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier
Richard Wike, Laura Silver, Janell Fetterolf, Christine Huang, Sarah Austin, Laura Clancy, and Sneha Gubbala, Pew Research Center
December 6, 2022
The survey assessed the respondents’ view on their democracy and how social media has affected political and social discourse. The results are analyzed at both a global and national level.
Manipulating Social Media to Undermine Democracy
Sanja Kelly, Mai Truong, Adrian Shahbaz, Madeline Earp, and Jessica White; Freedom House
2017
In 2017, there was further proliferation in social media misinformation in several countries across the world, including in the United States. In particular, the U.S. saw a proliferation of “fake news,” automated “bot” accounts, and other manipulative methods.
How partisan polarization drives the spread of fake news
Mathias Osmundsen, Michael Bang Petersen, and Alexander Bor, Brookings
May 13, 2021
This article describes the authors’ study, which concluded that political polarization is the primary psychological motivation behind political fake news sharing on Twitter (now X).
Social Media and Political Extremism
Virginia Commonwealth University
February 28, 2023
This article examines the ways in which extremist rhetoric spreads on social media and offers strategies for combating online extremism and misinformation.
Concerns about democracy in the digital age
Janna Anderson and Lee Raine, Pew Research Center
February 20, 2020
This report is a compilation of opinions and predictions about democracy in the digital age. The opinions are sourced from a variety of researchers, academics, and practitioners from different professional and academic fields, including political science, journalism, engineering, philosophy, and more.
Tookits
A series of toolkits to help you promote democracy and uphold the rule of law through action, education, and community-building.
Speaker Guides/Discussion Guides
A collection of guides to help you give talks or hold discussions on the rule of law, what lawyers can do to defend democracy, facts on our elections and how to improve civic dialogue in your community.
A Guide for Leading Community Discussions
What Is the Rule of Law and Why Is It Fundamental to American Democracy?
What is commonly referred to as the “Rule of Law” is now increasingly contested and politicized. While this concept is generally seen as foundational to our constitutional democracy, it is not often well-defined – which makes distortion and abuse of the idea easier and more dangerous.
A Guide for Leading Community Discussions with Lawyers and Law Firms
What Lawyers Can Do to Defend the Rule of Law, Our Democracy and Our Elections
Faith in democracy has never been lower. Almost half of the U.S. population is embracing authoritarian ideas and acts long viewed as antithetical to democratic self-government. Many lawyers have asked what they can do to better support the Rule of Law, democracy and our elections amongst the public.
A Guide for Leading Community Discussions
Restoring Respect In Public Discourse: An Appeal to the Legal Profession and All Americans
Every one of us needs to find ways to “disagree better” with our fellow citizens with whom we have differences of opinion. If we take the time to truly listen to each other in a respectful fashion, we often find that we are not as far apart as we are sometimes led to believe.
Webinars
Upcoming events can be found here.
Past activities
Knight Election Law Forum
-
The Knight Foundation and American Bar Association worked together to host the Knight Election Law Forums, a virtual series aimed at equipping journalists with essential, nonpartisan, fact-based knowledge on election law to better inform their communities in the lead-up to the 2024 elections and beyond.
-
These on-the-record events provided practical, nonpartisan, fact-based guidance on understanding state election laws, ensuring that journalists are prepared to cover critical election issues accurately and effectively.
-
Related resources
The only source for politics-free news and information about the people and processes that guide our nation’s elections.
A nonprofit whose core mission is to work with election officials and build confidence in elections that voters should trust and do trust.
The Lab supports advances in election science by collecting, analyzing, and sharing core data and findings.
A comprehensive resource that examines the evolving field of election administration in the United States.
Seeks to bolster faith in elections by hosting conversations between a group of politically diverse community leaders and election officials about the ongoing work at the state and local levels to deliver an election this year that meets voter expectations of reliability and security.
A project of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR). It connects election officials in need of advice or assistance with licensed, qualified, pro bono attorneys and with communications professionals at no cost.
The central source for official voting information redirects to official state election websites.
Listening tours
-
Throughout 2024, the Task Force for American Democracy held a cross-country Listening Tour focused on addressing the key issues facing our democracy to inform, educate, and raise awareness about the upcoming election and beyond.
