Friday, April 25

Courts handed Trump a slew of legal losses this week

• Conservative and liberal judges across the country this week ruled against President Donald Trump in at least 10 different lawsuits challenging his administration’s immigration, elections and anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. 

FBI arrests judge alleging she obstructed deportation operation

• FBI Director Kash Patel said bureau agents arrested a Wisconsin county judge for allegedly helping a man evade immigration agents, highlighting the Trump administration’s dangerous push to prosecute officials who resist deportation efforts. 

Trump administration dismantles protections against law enforcement abuses

• Among his many anti-democratic actions, Trump has also rolled back efforts to track law enforcement abuses, and frozen the DOJ's police misconduct investigations, Democracy Docket contributor Jessica Pishko writes.

Will the Supreme Court gut the VRA?

• This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the future of Louisiana's congressional map — and potentially of the Voting Rights Act. Here's what you should know.

North Carolina Republicans’ election board power grab

• Earlier this week, a three-judge panel in a North Carolina court blocked a Republican scheme to gain power over the state’s election board.
  
  
• GOP legislators appealed the decision. Allowing the law to go into effect would empower the state’s auditor, a Republican, to replace the board’s members May 1. That could give Republicans an advantage in the ongoing legal fight over last year’s state Supreme Court race.