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In It to Win It
In It to Win It's Journal
In It to Win It's Journal
August 2, 2025
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/01/supreme-court-louisiana-redistricting-order-00490390
The Supreme Court just dropped a hint about its next big Voting Rights Act case
The Supreme Court said Friday that it will weigh the constitutionality of a common form of redistricting used to protect the voting power of Black and Hispanic voters: the drawing of congressional districts where racial minorities make up at least half the population.
Experts in election law said the move signals that the court may be poised to further narrow the Voting Rights Act.
In a terse order issued Friday evening, the justices called for briefing on whether the “intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
The order came in a case challenging Louisiana’s congressional map, which contains two majority-Black districts out of the state’s six House seats.
The court heard arguments in the case in March and had been expected to rule by June. But on June 27, the justices punted the case into their next term and ordered that it be reargued.
Experts in election law said the move signals that the court may be poised to further narrow the Voting Rights Act.
In a terse order issued Friday evening, the justices called for briefing on whether the “intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
The order came in a case challenging Louisiana’s congressional map, which contains two majority-Black districts out of the state’s six House seats.
The court heard arguments in the case in March and had been expected to rule by June. But on June 27, the justices punted the case into their next term and ordered that it be reargued.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/01/supreme-court-louisiana-redistricting-order-00490390
August 1, 2025
SCOTUS Could Be Set to End Key Protection for Minority Voters - Democracy Docket
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/scotus-could-be-set-to-end-key-protection-for-minority-voters/The U.S. Supreme Court escalated the high-stakes redistricting battle in Louisiana by ordering new legal briefings on whether intentionally creating a second majority-Black congressional district — to comply with the Voting Rights Act — might violate the U.S. Constitution.
The Court’s order Friday directs both sides to submit supplemental briefs on “whether the State’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
The order suggests that the court’s conservative majority could be readying to make a sweeping ruling that creating districts in which minority voters can elect their representatives of choice under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.
The Court’s move comes months after a federal court struck down Louisiana’s remedial congressional map on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, even though the legislature passed it to fix a prior Voting Rights Act violation.
The Court’s order Friday directs both sides to submit supplemental briefs on “whether the State’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
The order suggests that the court’s conservative majority could be readying to make a sweeping ruling that creating districts in which minority voters can elect their representatives of choice under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.
The Court’s move comes months after a federal court struck down Louisiana’s remedial congressional map on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, even though the legislature passed it to fix a prior Voting Rights Act violation.
🚨BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court escalated the high-stakes redistricting battle in Louisiana by ordering new legal briefings on whether intentionally creating a second majority-Black congressional district — to comply with the Voting Rights Act — might violate the U.S. Constitution.
— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T21:52:12.854Z
August 1, 2025
SCOTUS will consider whether the intentional creation of a majority-minority congressional district violates
Mark Joseph Stern
@mjsdc.bsky.social
😬The Supreme Court will consider whether the intentional creation of a majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments.
If the answer is yes, SCOTUS will effectively declare that what remains of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. This is very, very ominous.
@mjsdc.bsky.social
😬The Supreme Court will consider whether the intentional creation of a majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments.
If the answer is yes, SCOTUS will effectively declare that what remains of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. This is very, very ominous.
😬The Supreme Court will consider whether the intentional creation of a majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T21:39:57.912Z
If the answer is yes, SCOTUS will effectively declare that what remains of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. This is very, very ominous.
August 1, 2025
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/corporation-public-broadcasting-end-operations-173418543.html
Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end operations after federal cuts
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Friday it would begin winding down its operations after its funding was eliminated by the Trump administration and Congress.
The CPB is a private nonprofit founded in 1967 that serves as a steward of funding for public media. It provides funds to 1,500 local public radio and television stations as well as PBS and NPR. It employs about 100 people.
President Trump signed an executive order in May instructing the organization to cease federal funding for PBS and NPR. In June, the House approved a White House request to claw back $1.1 billion in already appointed federal funds from the CPB. The Senate Appropriations Committee's 2026 appropriations bill eliminated funding for the CPB for the first time in over 50 years.
"Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations," said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison in a statement. "CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care."
The CPB is a private nonprofit founded in 1967 that serves as a steward of funding for public media. It provides funds to 1,500 local public radio and television stations as well as PBS and NPR. It employs about 100 people.
President Trump signed an executive order in May instructing the organization to cease federal funding for PBS and NPR. In June, the House approved a White House request to claw back $1.1 billion in already appointed federal funds from the CPB. The Senate Appropriations Committee's 2026 appropriations bill eliminated funding for the CPB for the first time in over 50 years.
"Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations," said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison in a statement. "CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/corporation-public-broadcasting-end-operations-173418543.html
August 1, 2025
Brett Kavanaugh says he doesn't owe the public an explanation - Ian Millhiser @ Vox
VoxJustice Brett Kavanaugh defended the Supreme Court’s recent practice of handing victories to President Donald Trump without explaining those decisions, while speaking at a judicial conference on Thursday.
For most of its history, the Supreme Court was very cautious about weighing in on any legal dispute before it arrived on its doorstep through the (often very slow) process of lawyers appealing lower court decisions. There are many reasons for this caution, but one of the biggest ones is that, if the justices race to decide matters, they may get them wrong. And, on many legal questions, no one can overrule the Court if the justices make a mistake.
Beginning in Trump’s first term, however, the Republican justices started throwing caution to the wind. When Trump loses a case in a lower court, his lawyers often run to the Court’s “shadow docket,” a once-obscure process that allows litigants to skip in line and receive an immediate order from the justices, but only if the justices agree. Unlike in ordinary Supreme Court cases — argued on the “merits docket” — the justices do not often explain why they ruled a particular way in shadow docket cases.
Before Trump, the Court was hypercautious about granting relief on the shadow docket, because doing so often required them to decide high-stakes matters without much deliberation, full briefing, or an oral argument.
For most of its history, the Supreme Court was very cautious about weighing in on any legal dispute before it arrived on its doorstep through the (often very slow) process of lawyers appealing lower court decisions. There are many reasons for this caution, but one of the biggest ones is that, if the justices race to decide matters, they may get them wrong. And, on many legal questions, no one can overrule the Court if the justices make a mistake.
Beginning in Trump’s first term, however, the Republican justices started throwing caution to the wind. When Trump loses a case in a lower court, his lawyers often run to the Court’s “shadow docket,” a once-obscure process that allows litigants to skip in line and receive an immediate order from the justices, but only if the justices agree. Unlike in ordinary Supreme Court cases — argued on the “merits docket” — the justices do not often explain why they ruled a particular way in shadow docket cases.
Before Trump, the Court was hypercautious about granting relief on the shadow docket, because doing so often required them to decide high-stakes matters without much deliberation, full briefing, or an oral argument.
Brett Kavanaugh says he doesn’t owe the public an explanation www.vox.com/scotus/42203...
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T18:55:31.786Z
August 1, 2025
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/01/federal-reserves-kugler-to-resign-giving-trump-earlier-than-expected-opening-00489018
Federal Reserve's Kugler to resign, giving Trump earlier-than-expected opening
Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler announced Friday that she will step down from her position on the central bank’s board, effective Aug. 8, a move that hands President Donald Trump an opening on the central bank that he has lambasted relentlessly for months.
Kugler’s term was set to expire in January, and she did not specify why she was leaving early, but the Fed said in a press release that she would be returning to Georgetown University as a professor this fall. Kugler, a former World Bank official, was nominated to the board by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023.
“It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” Kugler wrote in a resignation letter to Trump on Friday. “I am especially honored to have served during a critical time in achieving our dual mandate of bringing down prices and keeping a strong and resilient labor market.”
Kugler added that she was “proud to have tackled this role with integrity, a strong commitment to serving the public, and with a data-driven approach strongly based on my expertise in labor markets and inflation.”
Kugler’s term was set to expire in January, and she did not specify why she was leaving early, but the Fed said in a press release that she would be returning to Georgetown University as a professor this fall. Kugler, a former World Bank official, was nominated to the board by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023.
“It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” Kugler wrote in a resignation letter to Trump on Friday. “I am especially honored to have served during a critical time in achieving our dual mandate of bringing down prices and keeping a strong and resilient labor market.”
Kugler added that she was “proud to have tackled this role with integrity, a strong commitment to serving the public, and with a data-driven approach strongly based on my expertise in labor markets and inflation.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/01/federal-reserves-kugler-to-resign-giving-trump-earlier-than-expected-opening-00489018
August 1, 2025
BREAKING: Judge Cobb blocks the Trump admin's use of summary deportation for those who had been paroled into the U.S.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
NEW: a federal court in DC has barred DHS from using “expedited removal” to strip those people who entered the country legally through humanitarian parole of a right to a court hearing.
Full opinion here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278757/gov.uscourts.dcd.278757.41.0.pdf
@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
NEW: a federal court in DC has barred DHS from using “expedited removal” to strip those people who entered the country legally through humanitarian parole of a right to a court hearing.
Full opinion here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278757/gov.uscourts.dcd.278757.41.0.pdf
NEW: a federal court in DC has barred DHS from using “expedited removal†to strip those people who entered the country legally through humanitarian parole of a right to a court hearing.
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T14:49:07.107Z
Full opinion here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
BREAKING: Judge Cobb has blocked the Trump administration's use of summary deportation for those who had previously been paroled into the U.S. — and warns the tactics used by the administration are beginning to resemble the countries these people fled. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T14:39:49.295Z
🚨🚨🚨Fed. judge holds that DHS' expansion of the use of expedited removal to sweep up noncitizens in ordinary removal proceedings likely violates the APA and is stayed (that is, blocked) for all people who have been, at any time, paroled into the United States at a point of entry.
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T14:57:33.644Z
August 1, 2025
MAGA Champion Who Said Trump Would Fight Child Predators Is Arrested on Charges of Being a Child Predator
The Daily Beast (Archived)A fervent Trump supporter who said that he was casting his 2024 vote to fight child trafficking is now being charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography.
Scott Soucek of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was arrested on July 24 and accused of accessing hundreds of child pornography images through a file-sharing system.
Soucek isn’t just a Trump booster himself: he’s also the husband of a leading Republican Party operative in the state.
His wife, Stephanie Soucek, is the chairwoman of the Door County Republican Party. Last year, she represented Wisconsin as a delegate at the Republican National Convention.
https://x.com/SpectrumNews1WI/status/1813369339728343095
Scott Soucek of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was arrested on July 24 and accused of accessing hundreds of child pornography images through a file-sharing system.
Soucek isn’t just a Trump booster himself: he’s also the husband of a leading Republican Party operative in the state.
His wife, Stephanie Soucek, is the chairwoman of the Door County Republican Party. Last year, she represented Wisconsin as a delegate at the Republican National Convention.
https://x.com/SpectrumNews1WI/status/1813369339728343095
August 1, 2025
JUST IN: Federal judge blocks Secrretary Noem's move to terminate temporary status for Nicaragua, Honduran and Nepali im
Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney.bsky.social
JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked Secrretary Noem's move to terminate temporary status for Nicaragua, Honduran and Nepaii immigrants, finding the cancelation was likely rooted in "racial animus." https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.452397/gov.uscourts.cand.452397.73.0_1.pdf
Judge Trina Thompson cited comments from Noem and others comparing TPS holders — who have lawful status — to criminals and people in the country illegally. She said Noem's comments, in particular, seemed to espouse replacement theory. "Color is neither a poison nor a crime.
@kyledcheney.bsky.social
JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked Secrretary Noem's move to terminate temporary status for Nicaragua, Honduran and Nepaii immigrants, finding the cancelation was likely rooted in "racial animus." https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.452397/gov.uscourts.cand.452397.73.0_1.pdf
Judge Trina Thompson cited comments from Noem and others comparing TPS holders — who have lawful status — to criminals and people in the country illegally. She said Noem's comments, in particular, seemed to espouse replacement theory. "Color is neither a poison nor a crime.
JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked Secrretary Noem's move to terminate temporary status for Nicaragua, Honduran and Nepaii immigrants, finding the cancelation was likely rooted in "racial animus." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T01:53:05.701Z
Judge Trina Thompson cited comments from Noem and others comparing TPS holders — who have lawful status — to criminals and people in the country illegally. She said Noem's comments seemed to espouse replacement theory. "Color is neither a poison nor a crime" storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T01:55:48.897Z
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