Texas officially walks back justification for redistricting, throws DOJ under bus

Texas Republicans are officially renouncing the rationale they used to justify their mid-decade redistricting effort as they get ready to defend their new gerrymander in court.
Constitutional concerns raised in July by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which the state had cited as the reason for the re-draw, were in fact a “mistake,” the state now says in a new court filing today.
The filing also appears to acknowledge that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) knowingly misled the public when he pointed to those concerns, saying Abbott used DOJ merely as “political cover.”

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

President Trump has threatened to send federal agents and National Guard troops into cities across the country, including Memphis, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
Congress must rein in this abuse of power. Tell Congress: No more troops on our streets.

Maine voters seek to block DOJ access to confidential registration data

Two Maine voters asked to intervene as defendants in a DOJ lawsuit seeking access to the state’s voter registration database. They argue the DOJ’s demand would override Maine’s confidentiality laws, threaten voter privacy, and expose sensitive information like driver’s license and Social Security numbers.
They seek to intervene to protect both Maine’s authority over its rolls and the privacy rights of its voters. (The voters are represented by the Elias Law Group, whose chair, Marc Elias, is the founder of Democracy Docket.)

Trump claims to designate antifa as a 'domestic terrorist organization'

Trump signed an executive order last night claiming to designate antifa a “domestic terrorist organization” — even though it isn’t an organization at all. This order comes as Trump weaponizes recent violent events as pretext to target left-wing movements and groups.

Can we fix our broken constitution?

American democracy is under attack, and the courts are at the center of the fight. Marc; Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.); Mary McCord, a former acting assistant attorney general for national security at DOJ; and Harvard’s Nicholas Bowie expose how Trump’s legal tactics and a partisan Supreme Court are undermining the Constitution, and what Congress, the courts, and citizens must do to defend it.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

President Trump’s deployment of federal troops to U.S. cities is about seizing power and sowing fear. He is using taxpayer dollars to intimidate our communities instead of investing in solutions that actually make our neighborhoods safer and our lives better. Our representatives need to hear from their constituents that this is not what we want. Tell Congress: No more troops on our streets.

The crucible of 2020 and the birth of Democracy Docket

Marc founded Democracy Docket right before COVID, ahead of the 2020 election, before Trump led us down the dark path we are still navigating today. Here’s why that matters.

Coming up tomorrow

The DOJ could file its amicus brief in support of non-African American voters’ challenge to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a pivotal Louisiana redistricting case.