This week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot to death yet another immigrant in his car — a 26-year-old father living in Biddeford, Maine, who was originally from Colombia. Neighbors reported that the victim, whom they identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, is the father of a young daughter and was authorized to work in the U.S. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)…
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Republicans are yet again looking for help from the Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed supermajority in placing a thumb on the scale for Republicans in future elections.
Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican and gubernatorial candidate, and America First Legal, the far-right law firm founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, were handed a serious setback last week when a court panel dismissed their lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they can’t file it again. The suit claimed Florida had been wrongfully denied an additional congressional seat and Electoral College vote because of the way the 2020 census was conducted.
For years, many Republicans have followed President Donald Trump’s lead in falsely claiming that the census count intentionally benefits Democrats. Liberals, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, have debunked these claims while spotlighting how the process of apportionment — that is, the delegation of congressional seats based on population — has been used to benefit conservatives.
The Florida Phoenix reported on last week’s ruling from a U.S. District Court three-judge panel. Per the outlet:
The Republicans alleged that a proper count would have given Florida an additional U.S. House seat and an additional vote in the Electoral College but for the “vast use” of a statistical method known as imputation. However, for the second time in six months, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida dismissed the case, this time with prejudice, finding that any further amendment to the pleadings “would be futile.”
The ruling was celebrated by lawyer Marc Elias, the pro-democracy attorney whose law firm helped thwart conservatives in the case. A day later, the plaintiffs appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
For the record,
On a single day last year, one of President Donald Trump’s joint fundraising committees sent nearly $1.5 million to 46 Republican Party committees in states and territories. Each of them, in turn, immediately routed those exact same amounts to the Republican National Committee. Routine transfers like those are a hallmark of how joint fundraising committees move money through the party system.
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Civil rights attorneys say a recent Supreme Court ruling in a landmark digital privacy case could put “wind in the sails” of local organizers challenging police deployment of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). However, those organizers in cities large and small still face both a powerful industry and police departments determined to outfit their forces with the latest tech. It will take more…
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Earlier this week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) indicated that he and other Republican lawmakers were exploring ways to reinterpret the meaning of the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship clause, following the Supreme Court ruling last month against President Donald Trump’s attempt to do so through executive order. In an appearance on Fox News on Sunday…
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President Donald Trump fired all three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Thursday, abruptly disabling the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration at a moment when Trump has sought to reshape federal voting rules. The two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were notified by email. “On behalf of President Donald J.
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